The Guardians
by Lord Kass
Summary: Several friends unwittingly end up getting involved in one of Earth's biggest wars,unfortunatly it devides them and now they just try to survive.New Transformers and made up are in here,so expect to see old faces.
1. Prelude: In Fates Hands Now

In the year 2003,Humans were blissfully unaware that they were being monitored-and that those doing said monitoring lived right beside them. Hiding until the time in which they would have to reveal themselves.

One fateful night a group of young humans unwittingly made contact with one of those watching over them-and changing their destiny forever...

(Note: The prelude is based off of actual events,and at which time remote car starters were still very uncommon.)

The Guardians: A Touch of Destiny

Even as the sun sunk beyond the horizon the heat persisted and most sane people were locked away some plae with air conditioning. However, this didn't seem to dampen the spirits of a group of friends making their way through a parking lot. It was void of human life but the amount of cars jammed together was evidence that people were somewhere close by,probably shopping at the newly renovated supermarket. Ali,Amber,Brian,Chris,Holly,Liane,and Richard had just come out of a popular arcade and were currently heading to the supermarket for cheap drinks,snacks and impromtu dinner. Suddenly gaining a burst of energy,Holly ran ahead of the others several feet and began to spin around in a circle quickly,looking like she might trip over her own feet at any moment-

'I'm a big black helicopter!'

It wouldn't be uncommn if she did trip,Holly seemed to be accident prone and even more so when she did such things as this act of hyper activness.Her balance seemed to be on overdrive as she her body was still used to her dancing on a game called DDR for two hours straight,which is the only thing keeping her from falling at the moment.

'Pfft. I'm an F16! and I can shoot you down! Puew-Puue!'

Liane chimned as she curled her hands to resemble guns and pretended to shoot at Holly,who tried dodging the invisible bullets.

'Don't encourage her'

Brian half groaned but put no effort forth to try and stop Liane-completely ignoring him she lept foreward a little to continue this game a little longer. Holly's face contorted as she pretended to crash to the ground, she then began to chuckle and clap her hands loudly infront of her face. Something was on her mind and it probably was something that would draw attention to herself,and to her friends much against their desires.

'Guess what!? My Hummer has a cannon mounted on it an I can blow you to smitherines! Kablewie!'

Holly flailed her arms and lept back like she had been hit with a small explosion-grinning widely the whole time as she took great pleasure in the idea of something like a fighter jet blowing up at her own doing. Amber sighed with a smirk, pausing long enough to place her hands on her hips like an old fashioned parent,shaking her head and looking disappointed in her friend.

'How many times do I have to say this? Its a box! A box on wheels!'

'It is not!'

'Hummers are ugly...Fugly even'

Brian added with a dark smirk,deciding to annoy Holly as well-he became amused by the dark hurt look he recieved from her. Ali and Chris also seemed to be mildly entertained by the events transpiring around them but they fell back into their own conversation,speaking about a concert they both planned on going to in the next city over.While Richard remained silent,knowing better then to get involved in any of this,but he did join in with the laughter,and it wasn't really concidered laughting at Holly as she too had a small smirk on her face.

Sticking her tongue out at her friends,Holly pulled a pouty face before spinning around to turn her back to her friends and was going to pretend to not be their friend any more by running off away from them but something snagged her sandle and she tumbled foreward. Looking like an invisible force had pushed her,Holly glared dwon at the ground then to the yellow car she now stood infront of.

'The car tripped me! Stupid car!'

Shaking her fist at the car,she forgot all about the fact that it was her favorite colour and ended up sticking her tongue out at it like she had done to her friends moments before.

'Sure...Blame the car'

Ali snickered loudly,making no effort to hide the dark and sinister tone in her voice,she loved to see people in pain and this included her friends,she loved causing it even more though.

'Its the car's fault! We should blow it up!'  
Holly's devious idea was quickly burnt out when the car suddenly started on its own,the headlights burning angerly at Holly-who promptly screamed bloody murder,like she had just been shot. The group stopped a good several feet away from the car and the over reacting girl,glancing around for the owner of the vehicle, who was probably getting their daily kicks out of Holly's reaction. The engine revedd once,which was more then enough to cause Holly to yelp again in terror and run for protection behind her friends.

'Holy Hell! The car's alive! It wants to kill me!'

She cowered behind Richard,who looked confused but did nothing to ease his crazy friend's mind against the car being alive. Brian heaved heavily,finding that since none of the others cared to put some sense back into the girl,he would have to and end up looking like a jerk.

'Its not going to transform and eat you-Holly-its one of those remote starters...you know...for secuirty reasons...'

'But...where's the owner?'

Slowly Holly stepped away from Richard and the group progressively made their way past the car.

'Probably over there with arms full of grocheries.'

Still not looking fully convinced,Holly looked towards the store entrance where people were mingling.

'Holly! If we hurry up, we can go for Bubble tea after'

'BUBBLETEA!'

Seeming to forget her fear at the mension of Bubbletea,Holly dashed ahead of the group again,giggling madly.

'What have you done?'

Chris more commented then asked,giving Amber an annoyed look similar to an 'You've doomed us all' look.

'At least she's not being paranoid about cars living any more'

'True'

The group slolwy followed onwards,pretending like they didn't know the girl waving her arms wildly in the air and yelling uncoherent words into the night air...


	2. Chapter One: Lady Luck

Chapter One: Lady Luck...

If she had been standing beside her friend right now,she would surely be poked and kicked or some other form of mild torture,not uncommon of her friends to bestow upon her. Growling like a pissed off caged cat,Amber was annoyed and was not about to hide that fact from her friend. Giving a small whimper,Holly briefly pulled the phone away from her ear like she thought Amber was going to reach through the phone and strangle her. With a sigh,she reluctantedly returned the device against her head and made another whimpering noise.

'I'm sorry,its not my fault'

'Riiiiiight'

Amber's voice revealed that she blatenedly didn't believe a word coming from the other woman's mouth.

'But its not!'

'Sure. and I'm to believe that it was pure coincidence that not even a week after I buy the care I've been saving forever for-your family so kindly decides to buy you a vehicle!'

There was a pause between the two-Amber growled again in a tone that said she wasn't getting the answers she wanted from this conversation.

'And on top of all that-they buy you a flippin' brand new Hummer!'

'Its not brand new! We had to buy it from a military thingy place!'

'Whatever!'

There was another pause-to anyone else this conversation would sound like Amber telling Holly off, but the two had already known that it was more of a harassment not to be taken seriously conversation.

'But...'

'Nope...Not talking to you'

'But...Aaaaaaammmmbbbberrrr'

'Nanananana'

Holly couldn't help but smirk at Amber's horrible job at ignoring her, and the tone of song she sounded like she was 'Nanananing' too was a familier one.She wanted to show off her new 'baby' as she called the Hummer, and talking on the phone was distracting her from doing so.

'When do you work today?'

Her answer was the rustling of paper,muffled voices,then followed by what sounded like Amber's earpiece falling to the ground.

'Yay! Amber died!'

Holly cheered jokingly and ended up falling off her own seat from giggling so hard.

'Three to Eleven'

Came Amber's reply,obviously she hadn't heard the comment Holly had made,either that or she chose to ignore it.

' Um...Amber...its 2.30'

'I know. But I've got a car now, remember?'

'heh. Want me to come by?'

'Sure. Can you do something after I get off?'

'Whats today? Thursday...Yes I've got days off now and a way home.'

'Shut up, I still have three days'

'teehee'

'Okay, but I should go...are you bringing your Hummer?'

'Of course. Gotta show off my Baby'

'you would...'

'I mean to those at work...like Kenny!'

As Holly giggled,Amber simply rolled her eyes and knew that her friend was just excited about her new vehicle,she too had the same feeling about her car but wasn't as obvious about it as Holly. She still thought that the Hummer was a box and dispite Holly's protests against it,there was nothing to change her mind.

After a few more minutes of childish banter the two said their good-byes before hanging up and going about their own businesses.

Amber grabbed her 'Pirates of the Caribbean' bag and work uniform, slowly making her way up the steep stairs to be greeted by the sickening cold her great grandmother had the temperature set to. She often loved the cold but this type of cold always got to her,perhaps it was just because of the severe heat outside. Amber tried to move to the kitchen silently,to grab a few cans of Cola and be able to slip out of the house without her family barking at her for something or the other. She'd just managed to reach the fridge when the air was split by the girlish scream from her brother,Niko. Moments later he came flying through the kitchen,shortly followed by their mother,who had her arms posed in the 'tickling' position. But upon spying Amber,she came to a stop and tilted her head with a wicked sounding cackle.

'Where are you going?'

Her mother asked,acting like she had given up getting Niko-though Amber knew better,her brother on the other hand...probably didn't.

'Work'

'Well...how are we sappoused to go to the movie tonight?'

'I need the hours'

'sure sure'

'well, going away to the conven...'

'Snob'

Misty (Amber's mother) took off again with a smirk on her face,prowling down the hawll,hunting her son. Amber glanced to the clock,damn-she was going to be late now! She quickly grabbed the Cola and dashed out the front door before any more of her family could have a chance to stop her-it would take nearly twenty minutes to get to the gas station that she worked at and the time now was ten minutes to Three...when she was sappoused to start her shift.

'Guess Aaron's just gonna have to be patient'

She muttered to herself as she jumped into her hot blue Mazda-hot due to the horrid heat wave the semi-desert city was currently enduring.

Several hours had passed and to kill time she had gone swimming in her pool and checked her Email, Holly was still drying off as she logged onto the messanger program to see who was online.

'Hey! Chris is on-Whoo!'

She quickly typed Chris a message asking him if he wanted to meet up for a few hours-it was still awhile until Amber would be off anyways,and she wasn't in the mood to totally hang around a gas station for more then two hours if she had to.

'Worst says:P'  
Came the young man's reply,but it didn't take much to get him to give her a real answer. And after a few minutes of threatening and being crazy,the two agreed to meet at the arcade as if was about half way for the both of them and Chris wanted to get in some exercise,he thought that he'd become too lazy since he got his truck. With things set,Holly logged off and walked out of her room and into the living room. She had to stare at her 'baby',finally having a Hummer made her happy-like she was given a lifetime pass to a major theme park. Blinking once,Holly gave a startled squeel and ran down the stairs and straight out the open front door-her Hummer wasn't where she normally parked it! Panicking,she blindly ran into someone standing just outside the front door-causing them both to crash oddly to the ground.

'oooouch'

Holly whined,she'd ended up on her back while the person she collided with slowly sat up.

'Holly!? What's going on?'

Came her mother's voice,not concerned but more amused at witnessing what had just happened.

'My Hummer!'

'is just fine...I moved it so that Allan could park in the driveway'

'Wha...'

Slowly her senses were returning,but now she was confused...what was her uncle doing there? And her mum...Violated her Hummer!

'Wow-Holly, is that how you greet your family now?'

turning to look at who was speaking,Ange-one of her two cousins-she grunted a reply that was more of a moan of pain. If her uncle and cousin was there,she slowly turned her head to see who she had run into and hoped the whole time that it wasn't her aunt. Devon gave her a large grin and waved,dead grass sticking out of his hair in all different directions.

'Nah-she just thought that her Hummer sprouted legs and walked off'

'No...Only if I'd told him to get me a slush'

Holly smirked,feeling a little more calm now that she knew her vehicle was safe-she ignored the strange look Devon gave her and passed it off as his normal insanity. She slowly forced herself to stand and offered her cousin a hand,but he chuckled and declined-flopping back onto the ground.

'I'm good. I've been on my feet all day'

'Same 'ere but I'm off to DDR then show off my Hummer to Kenny...'

'So...its a 'He' eh?'

Devon chuckled again,raisng an eyebrow at his cousin-Holly glared playfully at him,this time catching the unspoken implication in his question.

'Yes...He is'

'Named 'im yet?'

'I...No...'

Holly hung her head a little but quickly remembered that she was sappoused to be meeting Chris.

'Any one need a ride?'

She dashed down her front lawn and to where her mum had parked the Hummer,half in the middle of the street. Leaning against it quickly,she gave it a large hug,giggling and then turning back to her family who all stared at her oddly.

'Where are you going?'  
Jill (Holly's mum) asked sounding slightly annoyed that her eldest daughter was taking off again,probably not to be seen or heard from again for the better part of the night.

'Just showin' off my H1-and maybe crushing something viciously! Bwa-ha!"

As Holly giggled evilly she moved around the front of the large vehicle and quickly climbed in. She wasn't getting any replies from her family,which was an obvious 'NO' to her question. Waving through an open window, she started up the Hummer and took off down the street with a honk of her horn and another fit of laughter.

Devon gave a lazy wave before letting his hand fall back onto the ground-closing his eyes,he was tired from a long day of hard labor at the autobody shop.

'C'mon-you still need to take Spike for a walk'

'you know you could walk the dog sometimes,I work all day'

'So do I and yes I do'

'No you don't'

He really was in no mood to argue with his sister over this, but there was a more pressing reason for him to return home soon. Groaning inwardly,he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach,like something horrible was going to happen...and it wasn't in his nature to just ignore a feeling like that,but he had to talk to someone who might be able to help him...

Chris yawned loudly,strumming his fingers along the steering wheel of his blue Toyota Tundra-he sat at the intersection near the famous coffee store 'Mor Blucks' -Stupid traffic,what was the hold up tonight?

'What the hell...somebody die up there or something?'

He growled to himself,watching as a stream of cars drove down the main street,they were probably coming out of one of the many hotels that lined this street...stupid tourists.Growing bored,he flicked the radio on and waited to see if any good music was playing-not something done by some stupid thirteen year old singing about 'true Love'.

''+Ground Zero...Unknown Soldiers Fighting The War...+"

Disappointed,Chris turned the dial to CD and shortly after his own music filled the cab. Finally the stream of cars seemed to begin to space out,causing the pile up to begin moving foreward again.

'About time'

He gave a half hearted cheer,he was just glad to be moving again and decided that on the way home he'd go to 'Mor Blucks' near the arcade for some much desired coffee.

Half way up the hill,he growled angerly-he had to swurve slightly to avoid hitting the hind bumper of a damn car that suddenly came out of no where and cut him off.

'Stupid Pontiac!'

He muttered frusterated as the silver Solstice sped off and up the hill out of sight once again. This was an all too common occurance in this city,especially at this time of day,so he knew there was nothing he could do,not even try and chase it down. His mood only changed when he sped past the gas station on his left-Vesso-he reconized the blue car parked out front for all passing to see,he knew Amber was working. which...depending on Holly's mood,wasn't necessarily a good thing. Ever so slightly his truck began to pull to the left as if it wanted to drive into on coming traffic. Chris,however,managed to gain control over the truck again,taking a mental note to get the wheel allignment checked out on his days off-it was getting worse lately...well,if he got into an accident and lived,he could find himself a case for suing.

Several more minutes later,he was pulling into the parking lot of the arcade and was not surprised to see a Hummer...and even less surprised to see Holly leaning against i waiting for his arrival. He parked beside it and quickly slid out of his own vehicle,

'You finally went up to Mount Lolo and stole a Hummer...sure showed them'

His comment was referencing an on going joke,though to Holly it wasn't really a joke-smirking he strode up to the larger vehicle,he was glad that it wasn't one of the ugly newer versions of the Hummer.

'Yes...But I'm sad...you won...I wanted a yellow Tundra'

'Heh. You've got a Hummer so shut up'

'Never!'

Holly moved over to the Tundra and poked it several times,acting like she was afraid it would randomly explode or kill her.

'I hate to say this,but it looks good in blue'

'See...you love blue'

'Hells no! Stupid Blue!'

'Sure sure-whatever'

Holly sprang towards Chris but he managed with his quick reflexes to avoid being caught. Chuckling darkly,he splipped into the arcade-leaving Holly to growl in mock anger before giving chase after her friend.

Not long after the pair had gone inside a strange noise rose into the darkening air,it was mostly drowned out by passing traffic and other loud disturbances. But if one were to notice it,they would find that the strange sound was coming from both the Tundra and the Hummer...


	3. Chapter Two: That which moves us

Chapter Two: That which moves us...

It was more the sudden honking that caused Amber to look up from what she was doing-glancing out the station window,she only caught a glimpse of movement near the pumps. With the lights on inside the store and off outside there was an annoying glare that made it hard to focuse on anything outside the windows. She did manage to see that there was a large dark vehicle now parked between the full serve and self serve pumps. Moments later Holly waltzed in,

'I'm starting to get paranoid-everyone has blue cars. Stupid blue'

'Heh. yes its a conspiracy to get you'

'It is! I'll stick to my green,thank you'

Amber chuckled and lifted her bag,sliding it over the counter towards Holly.

'What? No yellow? I'm disappointed in you'

'You know its not exactly like I had a choice in the colour. We didn't go to a dealership. Besides the shade of green looks good'

'Sure-sure,Reptile'

'What?'

'Nuthin. Here take my things to my car-Its open'

'Grah! I'm not your slave!'

Grumpily Holly grabbed the bag off the counter and walked out of the store,but she had a large grin on her face,revealing she was only goofing around.

'Love you too!'

Amber called after and laughed as Holly only flailed an arm angerly at her friend. She jut had to put the til in the back,change and set the alarm,then she could relax for the rest of the night.

Holly walked up to the blue Mazda,trying each door in turn,and as she tried to open them...none of them moved. Either they were jammed or Amber was mistaken and the car really was locked.

'Stupid car'

She muttered placing Amber's bag on the ground,she was preparing to try a more violent attempt to open the doors-when suddenly one of the doors flew open and smacked Holly. She stumbled back but managed to catch herself before falling onto her ass-she gave a small yelp of surprise.

'Holly-what are you doing to my car!?'

Came Amber's mocking laugh as she slowly made her way from the store past the Hummer and to where her friend stood. She didn't see the door hit Holly,nor see it close again and just assumed her friend had tried to body check the car.

'Your car's trying to kill me!'

'Holly...not everything is out to get you'

'I'm serious! I tried to open all the doors but they wouldn't open. then...then...'

Amber gave her friend an odd 'yea sure,whatever' type of look before moving to grab her bag and over to her car.

'Amber...'

Opening the door without any trouble,Amber tossed her bag in the back seat before turning to look over her shoulder at her friend.

'What?'

'I...Nevermind...'

Holly eyed the blue car darkly before she too moved towards her own vehicle,wondering just if Amber planned on following along on the crazy adventure she had cooked up.

'What do you want to do?'

Amber asked now facing Holly,half in and half out of her car.

'Go on a crazy adventure.'

'um...'

Holly laughed excitedly and climbed into her Hummer-Amber was tired from working all day and wasn't entirely sure what Holly had in mind. Shrugging,she got into her car as well and waited for Holly to lead the way to wherever it was they were going.

Pulling out of the parking lot and down the main street,Holly noticed that her Hummer felt sluggish,Glancing down to the fuel gage,she saw that she still had a full tank. Perhaps he would stop at the Lusky gas station just out of town before heading up the mountain way. But there shouldn't be anything wrong with the vehicle,she pretty much just got it but it wasn't exactly brand new. Maybe there was a bullet in the fuel line or some other war related damages-Holly was fairly certain that her Hummer had seen the battle field at least once before coming into her possession. It was just a feeling she got from the machine,ever since she first laid eyes on it...and she loved it even more because of that.

It was a little slower then taking the highway,but they reahed the Lusky quicker. Amber pulled up next to Holly and rolled down her window,they were both in the station parkinglot.

'Is everything alright?'

'uh..yea...I just need a drink'

'Okay...where are we going?'

'You'll see'

Holly dashed away to make her fib more credible-she wasn't sure what had caused it but after travelling on the road for fifteen minutes the Hummer was acting more normal,more then that even.

It wasn't long before they were on the go again,but instead of heading straight on towards where Amber had thought they were heading,they turned up the mountain road-heading further away from the city and most civilization.

There were some houses and farms speckled out across the sea of black and the road began to curve at dangerous angles. They soon turned away from the last lights of a farm and up a dirt road-Amber growled. Her car was not ment for this,it was a street racing car,not an all terrain vehicle like Holly's. She knew that the road was probably doing murder to her wheels and undercarrage,not to menstion if she tried to follow the Hummer any closer she would probably get a cracked windshield from flying rocks.

'Dammit Holly'

Not impressed in the least,Amber was looking foreward to when they reached their destination-this was not what Amber had thought they would be doing. With each curve they took,amber gritted her teeth,feeling her tires skid over the gravel-this was deffinatly not a trip she wanted to be taking where she couldn't even see the damn road. However,several miles back she had come to the conclusion that she knew where they were headed,though it wasn't hard to guess. After all,Holly was only obsessed about this place...Mount Lolo and the abandoned military base that sat atop the mountain. So convinced that it wasn't as abandoned as they government had tried to make it,Holly,was out to prove her point.

Finally,after what felt like hours,Holly pulled around at what was a small and dimly light turn around. Oddly,it was paved and there appeared to be a house several yards off the road-barely visible through some large trees. Holly hopped out of her Hummer and waited for Amber to do the same-they're vehicles now facing each other. Slipping ou of her car,Amber stalked towards Holly-if she hadn't needed to go to work the next day,this may be amusing but she was also not in the mood to be shot for tresspassing.

'Isn't this great?'

'No,and if we get shot its your fault'

'we won't get shot'

'We're trespassing'

'So?'

'On Government property'

'So?"

'We can go to jail.'

'And?'

'You'll never see your Hummer again'

'Noooooo!!!!'

'See?'

Holly pouted.she hated to admit that Amber was probably right-looking out into the night in what could possibly be the direction of the base she sighed heavily.

'Are you ready to go home now?'

'No..This' fun'

As she turned back to face Amber her smile was only visible due to how large it was. Somewhere dogs began to bark and by the sounds of it they were rapidly growing closer by the second.

'Great...now we're going to be torn to shreds by rapid dogs'

'Nah...'

'Holly...can we please just go?'

Amber glanced around not knowing from which direction the beasts were coming from but chances were they wouldn't even see the attack coming. Taking a step towards her car,Amber glanced to Holly who had dashed off into some brush flailing her arms and probably trying to chase the dogs off. Opening her mouth to speak she was suddenly cut off by the Hummer's engine roaring to lfie-highbeams blinding her as they glared angerly in the night. Everything,including the dogs,fell silent. Amber frowned at her friend,or where she thought Holly had ended up,she really couln't see much of anything with the sudden light in her eyes.

'Well that worked but you can turn your highbeams off now'

Thee was no reply from Holly;shielding her eyes with her hand she tried to locate her friend. The engine revved again and jerked foreward suddenly,Amber gave an angery yell and lept into ome bushes off and away from the road and Hummer.

'Wha the hell are you doing!?'

She yelled,thinking that her friend had just tried to run her over-the Hummer now looked ready to smash into her little Mazda.

'HOLLY!'

'I'm not doing it...'

Came a quiet almost silent voice to Amber's left-standing several feet away was Holly. Even in the dime light cast by the cars,Amber could see how pale Holly looked-along with a horrified expression on her face. This made no sense-how was the vehicle moving if the driver was at least a yard away. Well, maybe in the cover of darkness someone jumped into the hummer and now was attempting to steal it. Turning back to her friend to let Holly on to this idea,she caught a glimpse of the silver keys-still in Holly's hand. It was still possible that someone had managed to hotwire the Hummer while they weren't looking.

The Hummer again lurched foreward,this time with enough momentum to hit Amber's car-Flinching,Amber prepared to hear the crunch of metal as the two vehicles should have collided. Instead the Mazda quickly backed up on its own-what was going on? A band of car thieves working out of Mount Lolo? That seemed a little farfetched but it was the only explination for what was going on before the two girls.

'Enough Games...Autobot!'

Came a deep growlie voice-the two girls looked at each other,both wondering where the voice had come from.

'Auto...what?'

Amber began but quickly fell silent as both Holly's Hummer and her Mazda began to change...Transform into...Giant Robots!!!


	4. Chapter Three: Time for questions is b

Chapter Three: Time for Questions is best for later.

This was insane! Amber's mind was working over time and she had a strong headache-though she didn't notice it or if she did she just shoved it to the back of her mind. She blinked several times in hopes that maybe what she was witnessing was just some really bad hullicination. The robot that once was her car took several steps back and glanced to the two girls as if seeing if they were a safe distance away-his attention was quickly brought back to the Hummer which sprung foreward in an attack at the Mazda.

Amber snapped out of her shock as she turned to Holly, who was standing wide eyed,slack jawed and pointing one finger towards the two fighting robots. She was no help what so ever-just great. Amber shook her head and growled irritbly,this time she ment it and knew that if they didn't do something that they would more then likely both be killed,etiher by the Hummer or by accident. Her body felt like it was moving on its own,she felt detatched from the situation, but she would deal with that later-when they weren't in dangers way. Right now,they had to worry about getting away from the giant robots-as far as she was concerned they were fighting over the right to kill the little humans. After all the Hummer had tried to run her over and her car done nothing to prove to them that it wouldn't try a stunt like that later.

'Okay...Time to go'

Amber snapped suddenly in a tone 'Almost' sounding cheery. She lept towards the still stunned Holly, grabbing her by one arm and trying to drag her away. Dealing with crazed dogs or gun totting wild men sounded alot better then standing around the giants. Amber stumbled back as Holly's subconcious stubborness and not budging had stopped either girl from running. Not really thinking of what she was doing,Amber brought her free hand up and jabbed two fingers into Holly's rib cage-causing her to yelp loudly in pain. The Mazda tried to locate the girls but got smashed in the face with the elbow of the Hummer and returned its attention back to the fight once again.

'C'mon! Lets go!'

Finally with Holly unbalanced,she managed to pull her a few feet before being forced to stop once more.

'What!?'

'MY Hummer!'

Holly growled,watching as a large cannon came up off the back of the Hummer and mounted securely on its shoulder. Amber couldn't believe that even after all they had just been through Holly still refused to leave her damn Hummer...despite the fact that it now had a really big gun. Growling she put all her weight into dragging her friend away,she was not about to die up in the mountains on this night...not because her friend was being stupid anyways.

'Holly, now is not the time for this'

'I'm not leaving my Hummer.'

'It just tried to kill me"

'But...'

'It spoke and transformed into a giant robot'

'yea but'

'If we don't leave now, we'll go Boom!'

'I don't care'

Time was rapidly slipping away in which they could escape from this madness and wasting that time arguing over trivial things like the Hummer was just a waste of time.

'Listen,how many Anime's have you watched with Giant Robots in them? Gundam for example...and What Always happens to the giant robots?'

Holly's eyes narrowed then widened as what Amber said sunk in,she glanced back to the robots and shook her head almost as if she wished she could be closer to them. It was apparent that if she were on her own she would stay and probably get herself killed but she also understood the law-of-Anime-giant-robots...they always exploded or destroyed everything in a mass of firey death.

'FINE!!'

Holly spat bitterly and began to dash off blindly in the direction down the moutain.

Moments after the girls were over a ridge, the Mazda gave a sound of surprise as it slipped down a slope and out of sight. The Hummer laughed as it blasted the small gulley where the Mazda had landed with a berrage of bullets before it too also decended down the incline-apparently more interested in the robot then the two escaping humans.

Agreeing to stay away from the roads until they reached the bottom of the mountain-the walk down was painfully slow and the conversation tedious. Pretty well the whole way down, all Holly did was ramble about the Military-Government conspiracies and it was all generalized to include the whole world,not just their own Government. Amber wasn't paying attention,she never really did when Holly went off on one of her rants and after the first hour,had begun to completely tune Holly out all together. She was tired,confused,sore and in pain in places she didn't know existed on her. On top of all that,her mood was rapidly growing more and more sour, AND she had to go back to work in a few hours.

At some point they had to stop for a break,the air was quiet and as far as they could tell they weren't being followed nor had they been detected by anyone, human or otherwise. What had happened to the two fighting robots? Had they blown each other sky high? come to a truce? or maybe they just got bored? Amber didn't want to think of that...at least not at the moment but her tired mind was trying to make some sense of what had just happened to them.

"We can't tell a soul about this'

'But...I want to tell Kenny'

'NO! I don't think anyone would believe us. And I don't feel like being thrown into an Aslym...especially once they found out that we aren't crazy and were right the whole time'

There was a pause as Holly shuddered,one of her deepest fears was of Aslyums, but she quickly agreed,mostly because she would probably die if locked away in one.

'Okay. Besides...Then 'They'...won't be able to find us...'

'They' that Holly spoke of was of course the top secret Government departments like the Men In Black,they didn't exist but they watched over the world. Rolling her eyes,Amber didn't bother to comment and that was the end of that-the girls would take this to their graves and whatever waited for them beyond that.

Finally, They'd reached the bottom of the mountain and it took less time then anticipated,probably they moved double time after the break and it was all down hill, that and they had stumbled across a nice path beaten down by probably herds of deer or big horn sheep. The sun in the distance was rising-now all the girls had to do was get back to town and go home. Holly knew she was going to be in shit from her mother and had to try to think of a logical explination where she had been all night and what had happened to her Hummer-Amber on the other hand just had to worry about work...she half wanted to go because she needed the hours for the money for the trip they were sappoused to be taking next month. With little persuation from Holly, she decided to call in sick and just sleep when she got home, that was probably for the better anyways.

A white pick up slowly approached the two, coming from the small cluster of houses that dotted the main mountain road, alot of people drove from this small community into the city and back each day,so it wasn't anything surprising that one of them was bound to stop to talk to the girls.A woman with greying hair rolled down her window and looked the pair over,looking sorry for them and thinking that they must have just come from some horrible accident.

'Are you two alright? Can I give you a ride to town?'

'Our car broke down up the road some ways, a ride would be very much appreciated. We don't have a cell or we'd call for a ride ourselves.'

The woman nodded and smiled warmly, moving her stuff over so that the pair could fit into the cab some what comfortably. Holly sat in the middle, while Amber leaned against the passanger door trying to keep herself from completely passing out and making a fool of herself. The ride was half an hour at most and Holly was keeping the woman 'entertained' by chatting about some crazy things that she'd heard from the kitchen staff at her work about some costumers. Like how one day a drunk man came in and though he was Napoleaon Bonapart (sp). The woman,probably assumed Amber had gone to pick Holly up from a party and the car broke down, seeing as when Holly was over tired instead of being quiet like normal,she got very talkitive and often down right hyper.

'Sure is alot of traffic heading up the hill this morning'

The woman commented with a smirk, Amber was far too out of it but Holly watched the convoy of vehicles pass them. There was some pretty looking ones, including a yellow sporty one and a large truck that looked almost as big if not bigger then Chris' Tundra.

'Yellow! I love you come back!'

She giggled and quickly explained to the woman how she liked fancy cars and the colour yellow was her favorite colour. Agreeing and joining Holly in laughter the woman began to tell the story of her great aunt who was a street racer and probably one of the first/only women to partake in tha deadly sport at that time. None of them noticed the Yellow car make a very quick 'U' turn and begin to catch up with the white pick-up.

'There you go'

'Thanks so much for the ride,Ma'am'

'My pleasure girls-good luck with your car troubles'

The woman gave a small toot of her horn before driving off to work, leaving the girls down town at a hotel where they could call for rides home. As Holly,who was acting more coherent then normal tried to call for the cabs-Amber went to sit by the lobby doors,starring out at the deserted street.

'I feel sick'

She groaned but it came out sounding more like 'I'm a Licke'-Holly hung up the pay phone and moved over next to her friend and gave a heavy sigh. Neither of them spoke but let the silence sink in and allowed each other to just relax,it was the first time in what felt like an eternity. Holly looked like she did want to say something a few times but deciding against it kept her mouth shut tight. She knew that she had promised Amber to keep what had happened to them a secret but she didn't know if she could-at least not from the first person who would call her crazy...Chris. They had known each other for practically their whole lives and Chris had always managed to give Holly good advice-even when she was being a big pratt...especially when she was being a pratt...So, how could she keep something like this from him?

Raising her head,Amber sighed,she had no strength to even fake a smile or open her eyes.

'He'll be the first to call the men in white. thinking you'd finally lost all sanity'

'Who?'

Trying to sound innocent and not like she knew who they were talking about-Holly always hated it when Amber seemed to be able to read her mind.

'You know,Who'

There was a tense moment between the two-Holly turned her head away from Amber to look out the lobby window as well.

'There's alot of yellow cars out today'

'Probably Taxi's'

'I don't think so'

The conversation would normally go further but the blue cabs pulled up at that moment and the two forced their achy bodies to move. Living at complete opposite sides of town,Holly had called for two cabs. Hadn't they been too tired to think straight,Ambre would have given Holly a hard time about picking Blue cabs over Yellow. A long running joke between their group of friends, of to which was better Blue or Yellow?

The pair said they're good-byes and were glad to finally be going home and some place safe-the fact that the robots might come to their homes looking for them hadn't crossed either of their minds,yet, but for now they seemed to be at peace knowing they could sleep and for the time being forget all about robots and machines in general...


	5. Chapter Four: Way too tired for this

Chapter Four: Way too tired for this.

What was that annoying sound? Growling Amber rolled onto her left side and wrapped the blanket covering her over her head, but it only managed to make her skin itch and the ringing sound still persisted.

'Will somebody answer that!?'

she yelled, but got no reply,where was everyone? Throwing the blanket off, Amber angerly rolled out of her bed. Flinching in pain almost instantly-she had forgotten the events prior to waking up and as the pain raced through her, all the memories came flooding back-putting her mood right back where they had been when she had fallen asleep,if not worse now. What time was it? What day was it even? Had she slept through the whole day? She didn't know how long she had slept but did know that it wasn't nearly long enough. She didn't remember anything past getting into the taxi, how she got inside her house was a complete mystery to her and she was in no mood to try and force her brain to remember. After a few minutes of letting her body get used to being awake, she finally pulled herself to her feet and stumbled out into the hallway-just as the phone stopped ringing. Frowning angerly,Amber needed way more sleep to think properly and everything was annoying her, currently breathing was annoying her. Well, she was up now, she might as well try to force some sort of food down her throat. Slowly she wandered down the hall but once she reached the living room, she collapsed onto one of the couches. Nobody was home , they'd probably gone shopping or maybe bingo. Despite her inablity to make sense of things,Amber knew by starring out the sundeck window that it was late afternoon-early evening...but she still didn't know what day it was...Friday? Saturday?

Her eyelids drooped shut and she was almost back into a pleasant slepe when the phone started again. Blindly she reached for it,it was somewhere on the same couch as she was trying to pass out on and its ringing was louder and even more annoying. Finding it she pulled it to her ear,then paused, she didn't understand why it was still ringing. Oh...she'd forgotten to hit the talk button, quickly doing so she opened her mouth and formed what was sappoused to be a greeting.

'Amber?'

Pulling the phone away from her ear,Amber groaned upon hearing how hyper and loud Holly was. What was she even doing awake? Holly loved sleep,for her to be this hyper was sickening even by Amber's standards.

'What?'

She snapped,stiffiling a cough,her mouth was dry but still too tired to go fix that problem.

'What are you even doing up?'

She asked quickly before Holly could reply, flinching again as Holly began to giggling inanely.

'Mum woke me up at ten...I'm so tired...weeh! But,but,but...that's not why I called'

'I'm sure.'

She was way too tired for this,and wanted nothing more then to return to her bed. Amber growled as her body shook violently in pain once more,causing her to close her eyes tightly and try to keep herself from whimper was all she could do...great...was she getting sick now too?

'Hurry up and spit it out-I need to Pee!'

'I'm so happy! Amber! My Hummer's back!'

'WHAT!?!'

Maybe she'd misheard what Holly had said-but it jolted her awake and her tired brain began to try to process at a normal pace now that her friend had just told her some rather troubling news.

'Its back,in my driveway and I'm so happy! Hi Hummer! hi! I love you!'

'Holly! Where are you!?'

'Um...At Home..'

'Grrr...I know that...But 'WHERE'!?'

There was a pause,Holly seemed to be humming away to word her reply-which was all the answer Amber needed.

'Get back inside'

'But I'm not outside...Just at the door'

'Close your door with you on the inside'

'But...My Huuuummmmeerrr...'

'Holly...It tried to kill us...'

'noooo'

'Yes. We've had this conversation before'

'I love my Hummer'

There was another pause,Amber's mood was not getting any better thanks to her friend.

'Did...did you already go out to your damned Hummer?'

'Maybe...'

Holly giggled, if only Amber had been more aware last night she would have insisted that Holly crashed at her place as well, and none of this would have happened.

'Get away from your door and sit down inside'

'But...'

'NOW!'

'Fine"

Holly slammed the door shut and stormed up stairs-it was apparent she too was alone,otherwise her family would surely be yelling at her for storming around. But that didn't matter much at the moment,what did was the fact that Holly had to stay away from her Hummer and with the only other person to know why all the way on the otherside of town,it was a hard task. Amber pushed off the couch and made her way to the kitchen,ignoring the rumbling in her stomach,now that she was more awake she wasn't entirely sure that it was hunger that caused her stomach to growl like it was.

'Amber,go see if your cars there'

'I doubt it. It seemed like your Box was owning my car pretty badly'

'Not a box!'

Amber came to a stop at the kitchen window-her eyes narrowing as she looked out across her front lawn and at what was sitting infront of her own house.

'Great...'

'What? Whats going on?'

Sighing heavily,Amber closed her eyes before reopening them and answering her friends irritatting question.

'Well, my car's not here...but there's a funny yellow car here and I'm home alone'

'Yellow!'

There was an odd sound,Amber knew that Holly was dancing in a circle probably in her living room-completely missing the point,as useual. She growled-it was possible this car was someone visiting one of the neighbours,but some how she doubted that.

'Amber...Whatchya doing?'

'Hang on'

She planned to try and confront this car,Amber causiously walked out of her front door.

'Whats going on?'

'Shsss'

She shushed Holly,moving towards the car some more. Amber came to a complete hault in the middle of her lawn,and just stared at the yellow car. Now that she was up close,she could see that the car was a Camaro with black stripes and was deffinatly a car she would never be able to afford in her life.

'What...'

'Holly-shut up!'

Wishing to have her full concintration on the car,Amber would have perferred to not be on the phone,but had to make sure Holly stayed away from her Hummer.

'So...Are you one of those things from the mountain'

she directed the question towards the car,but perhaps it was a good thing she had the phone to her ear,so that it wouldn't look suspecious that she was talking to a car-people passing by would assume she was just talking on the phone. The car however remained silent,and other then the odd feeling Amber got from it,looked like a normal car.

'Where's my car?'

Silence

'Are you going to talk to me?'

Silence again. Amber was growing annoyed with this,the car had to be connected to the robots on the mountain but the fact that it wasn't talking to her only caused her to not trust it. As if sensing this,the passanger door popped open-Amber took a step back and growled,not taking her eyes off of the car. The Camaro wanted her to get in but had offered her no answers or proof that it wouldn't transform and kill her (with her inside). Slowly she approached it,biting her bottome lip-the car obviously thought she was going to get in sa it started its engine. Amber instantly stopped and growled, she didn't like this at all. Raising one foot,she kicked the door shut and quickly turned back towards her house. The door swung open again and the Camaro reved its engine impatiently. Glancing over her shoulder and with no attempt to mask her current dislike of the machine, she growled her answer.

'Until you're willing to talk to me, I'm not going anywhere'

this must have irritated the car as it slammed the door shut before speeding off up the street. Amber shook her head and re-entered her house,still too tired but sleep was no longer an option.

'Holly...stop starring at your Hummer...and get away from the window'

She didn't need to be there to know that Holly was standing at her living room window starring out at the Hummer.

It wasn't too long later that a loud noise coming from the street caused Amber to raise her head off of the pillow she was resting on on the living room floor.

'Whats that noise?'

Holly asked, she was still on the phone with Amber, but sounding more tired then she had earlier.

'I don't know'

Amber moved towards the kitchen again and stopped,in disbelief of what she now saw in front of her house.

'Yea-like the neighbours won't find that suspecious at all'

'What?'

'Oh,the Camaro's back and brought a friend...a freakin' Blue and red Semi in my front lawn!'

'What? I wonder if my Hummer has a friend!'

Holly dashed to the living room window again but sighed sadly when she saw that her Hummer still was there on its own.

'Holly, stay away from your Hummer-it'll prolly kill you'

'noooo...My Hummer Loves me...'

Amber sighed, she really had no patience to deal with Holly and the strange vehicles at the same time.

'I blame you'

'huh'

'Its your fault'

'But Amber...i didn't do anything'

'Yes, you did. you dragged me up to that stupid mountain of yours,we nearly got blown up,had to walk all the way back down the mountain, and hitch hike back to town'

'That woman totally thought I was wasted and that you were the poor desinated driver who's car broke down'

'I'm sure she did'

There was an odd noise and tone in the background on Holly's end of the line.

'Holly...Where are you now...'

'On my Diving board.'

'Get inside now!'

'but you said-'

'Your Hummer is probably not alone!'

'But I-'

Holly would have protested more but her attention was quickly diverted to something in the forest behind her yard. Amber simply turned her back to the kitche window as she waited for her friend to get back inside safely,rubbing her temples in a vain attempt to releave the pressure she felt there. She just wanted this all to be some horrible dream and wanted to wake up from it.

'Eiiik!'

'What!? What is it? Holly?'

Amber's knuckles were white as she grasped the phone tightly.

'Amber! Its a kitty! A really bid kitty'

'Holly...Just get inside your house...now'

There was a loud thud-the cat Holly had spotted had just lept from the forest to the back deck,landing heavily on the wood which splintered and broke around its paws. It crouched low again,ready to pounce again,and it was at this point Holly realized that this was not any type of mountain lion.

'Amber...I don't think this' a normal kitty..it looks like a ro-aaaaah'

The creature lept at Holly,who threw the phone as she lept into the pool trying to get away-the cat creature came to a sploshing land in the pool right after the girl.Trapping her at the bottom of the pool with no way to get away or up for air.

'HOLLY!!!'

Amber heard several splashes,then the bubbling of the phone sinking to the bottome of the pool then the connection was lost.

'Dammit Holly!'

Amber fell to her knees,dropping the phone she let her body violently shake as she tried to regain some self control-having a mental breakdown was not going to do anyone any good right now. She had no idea if Holly was alive or dead but she did know who would know and she planned to find out for herself...one way or the other...


	6. Chapter Five: The whosawhatsahuh?

Chapter Five: The Whosa-Whatsa-huh?

Why was this happening? Amber grabbed what she thought that she might need-change of clothes,money,snacks,drinks,and more importantly some first aid stuff, for she had no idea what she might encounter after she left her home. As she moved to the sundeck to grab her Ipod, she noticed a note by the computer scribbled in her brother's handwritting.

"Phone calls for Amber-Devon,Devon,Devon,Holly,Maryanne,Devon,Devon,Devon,Holly,Devon,Devon,Devon."

She stared at the paper but her braid didn't register the oddity of how many times Devon had called-especially since he was sappoused to be at work all day. She quickly finished packing, one shoulder bag crammed with stuff,it really wasn't all that much as she wanted to travel light but it looked like it was fuller then it really was, she didn't know what she would need and figured in the end she may not need any of it. With a sigh,she closed her eyes and reminded herself why she was doing this-stepping out of her house,Amber made a silent farewell to her home,certain this would be the last time she saw it. Reopening her eyes she locked the door behind her and turned to stare coldly at the two vehicles still parked infront of her house. They were either the most patient creatures in the universe or they really wanted something from her and knew being impatient wouldn't get them anywhere,either way,Amber was not impressed with either of them. Again she walked to about the center of her lawn and let her gaze drift between the Camaro and the Semi-her face creased with dislike of being in this situation.

'Right. I have no idea who you are or what you want from me, and I really don't give a damn. All I know is that you show up and suddenly my friend and I are thrown into some crazy hellish wannabe fanboy story about giant robots. Neither of you feel like talking to me...so don't expect me to be all sunshine,lolipops and rainbows to any of you'

She paused,growling and feeling her legs want to give out under her from all this stress and still being exhausted from the previous night,she would not be surprised if she ended up in a comma after all this.

'But lets get one thing straight...'

She crossed her arms over her chest,and not really expecting to recieve an answer from either of the vehicles or whatever they really were.

'I'm no going with you because 'YOU' want me to. I'm going with you to save my friend and find my car. Understand?'

She growled again, slowly she moved across the remainder of the lawn quickly deciding to travel in the yellow Camaro,because on the off chance that if someone she knew saw her in a Semi,it would bring up too many ackward questions.She really would have perferred to not travel in either, but had to push her own instincts back, these things knew what was going on and she would have to go with them to find out exactly what it was...even if they too tried to kill her like the Hummer the night prior. She was taking a large step in trusting these things, and it made her very uncomfortable. Amber got into the driver seat of the Camaro but touched nothing,and she didn't need to for as soon as she was safely inside it took off up the street-with the Semi in quick persuit. She leaned back and tried to make herself as comfortable as possible, she had no idea where they were going but figured that it was going to be a long evening.

'When I get my hands on that Holly...'

She though bitterly as she let her eyes slip closed and began to drift off into a very light sleep,or at least she would try to get some rest...

Pulling up the street Holly lived on was a silver Pontiac Solstice,pretty normal to look at for anyone who really wasn't paying any attention or had a reason to look,but this car was different from most-being that it was currently driving without a driver and doing a good job at that. It only managed to drive a few houses up the street when it came into view of Holly's and saw that there was her Hummer parked in its normal spot in the driveway. The Solstice slowed,like it was pulling to the side of the road,and again nothing out of the ordinary for if someone to randomly turn to watch the car. Jazz cursed his luck as he slowly came to a stop infront of a house down the road a little from Holly's,he knew the Hummer belonged to the girl and he also knew that that Hummer was no ordinary Vehicle...Which ment that unless he felt the impulse to get into a conflict with it,that his mission to watch and return with the girl was a failure. He had gotten there too late,and now that he thought about it,perhaps he shouldn't have taken that slight detour,he honestly hadn't expected something like the Hummer to be so quick,it should still be recovering from the fight earlier that morning. As he idled at the side of the road,he debated about continuing on past the Hummer up the street,but he was sure that it would notice his odd behavior for sure,suddenly a loud siren and flashing lights caught his attention and his gaze fell upon an even more disheartening sight-a few houses further up the street was an all too familiar black and white police car. Not too surprised to see that the Hummer wasn't alone,Jazz backed up into the driveway of the house he was infront of and tried his best to act like a normal car,hopefully neither of the Decepticons had noticed him-luckily he was blocked from their view by a large slab of cement,a human could easily exit the car without being spotted from the street. He didn't like this,if they decided to attack he would be in a tight spot,this area of town was heavily populated by humans and most seemed to be home at thsi time, also he knew that he had no chance against the Hummer let alone the Hummer and Barricade...

'I wonder how many more there are hiding out of sight...'

he thought to himself frusteratedly,he wouldn't be surprised if there were more Decepticons lurking nearby,after all part of what they wanted was here and now knew about them...Though how much the girl knew was yet to be seen. Well, maybe the girl had some sense, it didn't seem like they had gotten her yet, but why were they just sitting there? It wasn't like them to just sit around and wait...If only the stupid Hummer wasn't there...sure it had a name but he didn't care to say it,especially after it had nearly obliterated Scout,one of the fastest Autobots around,only hours earlier.

'I hate this...'

he muttered and began what would turn out to be a grueling couple of hours of nothing happening at all.

Jazz was stirred from his thoughts as Barricade sped past him,quickly followed by the Hummer-did they have the girl? He didn't think so, he hadn't heard any screaming nor had he seen either transform? Perhaps the girl wasn't there after all? No,that didn't make any sense either. Becoming uneasy,he wanted nothing more then to get out of this area of town and back to some place more familiar,it was too easy to be ambushed here,with all the streets and trees for cover. But he was not going to take off right after the two,if they weren't bothered with him before his chasing after them would deffinatly stir up trouble. Groaning he heaved,he knew he was going to get it from Optimus when he got back to the base...How was he going to explain losing the girl to the Decepticons because he didn't go to the house right away...

'Dammit-How long does it take to get here from the bloody mainland?'

A firey red haired woman complained loudly,slamming her fist into the large metallic object that she had been leaning against for over two hours now.

'Perhaps she's taken the ferry across'

Came a dark male's voice,but the woman appeared to be alone and had no sort of phone or other electronic communication device on her. Pushing foreward,she growled impatiently before kicking a small rock,she hated waiting and hated it even more when it had been in the hot evening sun.

'Why? She's got a bloody fuckin' jet-she can be here in ten minutes if not less!'

'Alex, you-'

'Oh shut it Overkill-I'm in no mood'

She kicked another rock,this one was alot larger then the first and as soon as her foot connected with the stone a sickening crunch caused the both to fall silent. The red head fell back on her rump,craddling her foot and letting every curse word she knew in English and other escape her lips,not caring how loud she was being,not like anyone would hear her anyways. The thing she had been leaning against moved back,revealing itself to be a large World War Two tank,and had clearly seen more then one battle due to the large dents and dings in its shell. It eminated a strange sound as it rose and began to transform-moments later the tank was no more and standing in its place was a giant robot. It had a gun mounted on one arm and a round shield on the other,which was lined with large curved blades. Its head was circular and could turn completely around freely, though it was set below the shoulders,giving it a more dome looking appearance. Near the bottom of his legs were slits were smaller guns,hidden in the folded metal. On its back was its Track (the segments the tank moves one),enabling it to still fight if forced on its back. Alex,or Ali for short took no note of this transformation nor seemed startled by the sudden appearance of a giant robot behind her.

'Ah-here they come,now'

Overkill,the tank,declared-raising his shielded arm to signal to the approaching jet.

'Its about Fucking time'

Ali commented,she could careless about the jet but kept her focuse on her foot,she was fairly certain that when she had kicked that large rock she had broken or shattered a couple of her toes.

The black jet flew over the pair once,it was hard to make out on the darkening skyline but the pair both knew that this jet was a B2-Stealth Bomber. On its second fly by it paused and began to decent-as it did,it too transformed like the tank had. Landing lightly the jet now was a female robot,her tranformation was rather simplistic and allowed her passanger to remain safely inside the cockpit the whole time. Currently she was the only known one of their kind that was able to transform this way. Kneeling down on one knee,the female bowed to her supperior,Overkill-also allowing her passanger to climb down out of the cockpit to the ground.

'All Hail Megatron'

She greeted Overkill,who replied with a nod and swurved his head around to face the mountain behind them.

'He is still recooperating,but will be ready to leave this pit island shortly'

Overkill informed those with him,turning his head back to face foreward again.

'I haven't heard from Starscream yet but according to Soundwave,our commrades are now in possession of the girl'

'Excellent. And what of the Autobots?'

The female chuckled darkly,revealing her contempt towards the Autobots before answering the question.

'They have no idea of what they're doing...There was no fight to protect or even save the girl'

'Then perhaps they still don't know'

'Perhaps...they just want her because they know we want her...fools'

There was a pause as the ground under them shook-the robots seemed uneffected by it but the human who accompanied the female was knocked off of her feet and landed roughly on her side.

'Seems like lil' miss aerial star can't stand on her own two feet'

Ali snickered, pushing herself to stand and biting her tongue to keep herself from yelping in pain.

'At least I'm not stuck on some crummy island with nothing to do but collect bug bites'

'Oh,now the mighty Liane has made a scary come back...oooohhhh'

'You should just...'

'ENOUGH!! BOTH OF YOU!'

Overkill slammed his fist down between the two girls and managed to shut them up,though Ali stil growled and glared angerly at being interrupted. He then turned his attention back to the female jet-sighing,some days he wondered why they even kept the humans around.

'Then its settled. To proceed as planned'

'Agreed. We'll be waiting for your arrival over on the mainland'

'And we'll finally be able to end this...'

Overkill did have to admit to himself,he was tired of fighting the Autobots,and he was ready to just blow up anyone who got in his way...Autobots,Humans,and Decepticons alike.

'Alex, you and I have to stay here a while longer. Crusher and Liane will contact us if anything should arise'

'Whatever...'

Ali began to limp away,tired of the company and of the conversation.

'Lets get off this dump,Crusher'

Liane turned and waited with a tap of her foot for the female to transform back into the Stealth Bomber. Crusher glanced to the mountain that hid the current resting place of Megatron,she then transformed into her jet form and huvered off the ground long enough for the human girl to climb back into the cockpit. With a burstof speed,she took off towards the mainland,they had a long trip ahead of them and a hard task to perform...and Liane's fowl mood was not going to make either of them any easier to do.

Overkill didn't return to his tank form,he found no need to-the island was desolate and remote,far from any wandering eyes.

'Alex,are you really prepared to see your friends die?'

The question caused Ali to stop,slowly she turned to glance at overkill,her eyes a dark unreadible expression.

'Those who matter won't die...'

She looked as if she wanted to continue,but instead spun around on her good foot and brought the broken one up to kick Overkill.Not that it would even bother him-Blinding pain surged through her and forced her back to the ground. Through gritted teeth she cursed even louder then before and blamed the robot for this...


	7. Chapter Six: Of Denial and Trust

Chapter Six: Of Denial and Trust

Chris walked out of Mor Blucks with a triple shot chocolate mocha with extra foam-he'd had a very stressful day and the drink was sure to relax him. He also had to deal with some stupid computer as he tried to contact somebody at the cell phone company, his phone had been ringing all day but everytime he had gone to answer it, all he got was loud static noise. And as if that wasn't odd on its own, he couldn't turn his cell off, no matter how many times he removed and replaced the battery. Walking to his truck he growled as the phone began to vibrate in his pocket-if he couldn't turn it off, he had set it on vibrate to save him getting a headache from the music of the phone.

'Crazy thing'

He got into the Tundra,tossing the phone from his pocket to the seat beside him. He was about to start up the vehicle when it started all on its own.

'The duce?'

Chris slowly reached for the parking break, when the Tundra began to now back out of the parking space. Glancing to his drink still in hand,he shook his head-This was not happening, he was probably laying on some sidewalk writhering and having some sort of attack. Thats what it was-he then reached for the door handle,but the locks slid shut and try as he might he could not lift them to unlock the door.

'Okay...Whoa...'

He leaned back in the seat,quickly putting his drink in the cup holder with digust and like it was acid. He closed his eyes and waited a few minutes for this insanity to pass-still convinced that this wasn't real. Slowly, as he felt the truck make a sharp turn,he reopened his eyes. His face fell as he saw that the truck was still moving on its own.

'This' all Holly's fault'

he quietly muttered,though he was fairly certain that his crazy friend had something to do with all this. Perhaps he was the unfortunate victim of one of those dumb shows like 'Punked' and the truck was actually being remotely driven like a giant toy-that was plausable wasn't it? Feeling a little more at ease about this whole ordeal he leaned back in his seat and was now convinced that this was all just a big prank. As they headed further out of town,Chris glanced around,keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of camera crews along the highway.

'Christopher'

The sudden male voice caused Chris to give a small jump though it was unnoticable,and he quickly covered up any expression that may have appeared on his face.So,they had microphones installed in his truck? Probably little camera's as well. Well, that would be the last time he left his truck unlocked while he was gone for only five minutes at max. This must be part of the show,they made the truck seem like it was alive and he was sappoused to get all freaked out and such, then after a few moments they would reveal that he was on the show and everyone would have a big laugh at his expense.

'Great...now my truck speaks'

his voice was flate and sarcastic,he wasn't going to act the way they expected him to, it was too demeaning and stupid.

'I'm not going to try and convince you of anything,but i advise that once we get to our destination that you try to not anger anyone'

Chris lowered one brow,snickering darkly as he had to scoff at how much effort was being put into this stunt.

'Right. Gotta stay on the good side of the man,eh..."

'What?'

'Nevermind...Where are we going anyways'

He noticed that they were now on the road that lead out to Mount Lolo,but instead of heading straight to the mountain they turned off on a narrower and winding road going in the opposite direction of the old military base.

'The Lake?'

His truck hadn't replied to either question,though Chris wasn't in the mood to try and press for answers. The Tundra pulled off the Lake road and up a small dirt path-the path was narrow and overgrown with shrubs and small trees. It was easily missable from the lake road,but strangely most of the trees and shrubs had been broken back like something large had recently gone up the path. Shrugging,Chris was certain this ride was almost over and not a moment too soon, he was groing far too irritated at this, and was sure to give his friend a good smack for putting him through all this. Well, there was no reason why he couldn't enjoy the last of the trip,he turned on the radio and closed his eyes for a few moments.

Forty-Five minutes later the trunk came to a complete stop and the driver side door opened.

'About time'

Chris commented as he wasted no time in sliding out of the truck and stretching,taking in the fresh air of the mountains. He was mildly surprised to see that he was alone-no camera crews,no broadcasting agents,no friends laughing at him...no...nothing...What the hell was going on here? He spun to face his truck and momentarily forgetting that his cell wasn't working had devised a plan to try and call out. However,the truck slammed the open door shut and bagan to backup at a rather quick pace-Chris,believing that he was going to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere,lept foreward in an attempt to catch the truck.

"Dammit!"

There was a strange noise, followed by quick movement to Chris' right -but whatever it was, was too quick. It struck him in the side and he was sent tumbling through the air. He came to a harsh landing on the ground, rolling several times and only stopping when he hit a tree. It would have been painful but Chris had lost conciousness in the air-he was lucky to even be alive after a hit like that. Moving almost at the ame time the boy was struck,the Tundra transformed,spinning around once and slamming into whatever had hit the bow-causing that creature to crash into some trees. The force caused the Tundra to stumble foreward but its point had been made.

'We need the boy alive!'

He growled angerly,unimpressed by the attack on the human. Chattering just as angerly but in a strange language came the reply from the creature-crawling out from the broken trees appeared a metallic and wicked looking scorpion. Its tail was posed high as if ready to strike the Tundra,but stopped as it eyeballed the unconcious human,then began to chatter again in its strange language.

'They're waking her up? Where's Hammershot?'

The scorpion shook its head,chattering on once more before turning and disappearing through some trees. The Tundra glanced in the opposite direction the scorpion had gone-Waking the girl,where they? Impatient they all seemed,but she did have something they all wanted badly,And where was Hammershot? He was nowhere to be seen when all this took place? Was it not his job to keep a watch over the girl...protect her even...more like make sure the others didn't kill her...at least that had been Megatron's orders...slowly he turned his gaze back to Chris and growled. He needed to get the boy to the base quickly or all hell would surely break lose-the girl wouldn't be too happy to wake up and find giant robots standing over here demanding something from her...

She was startled by a loud thud right by her ear,quickly followed by the sensation of falling. Holly was rudely brought to her senses as she hit the ground and slid a few feet-pain raced through her one side and up to her head. Where was she? What was going on? And why was she wet!? Several thoughts went through her mind and none of them seemed very desirable-trying to focuse her mind on one thought only seemed to cause more pain in her head. The last thing she remembered was being on the phone with Amber...and a...giant robotci cat! The ground began to shake violently, causing Holly's to fly open-more pain flooded her senses and everything was blurry,she felt disoriented. However she did see a blurry giant form coming straight towards her! Remembering suddenly the robots,Holly let out a strangled scream and tried to climb to her feet,unfortunatly her body was still too tired and all she managed to do was leap into the air before crashing back down onto her stomach and nearly splitting her jaw open on the floor.

'I'm gonna die-I'm gonna die-I'm gonna die!'

She whimpered to herself as she curled into a tight ball on the cold floor,going into the fetal position. She covered her head with her arms,feeling hot tears of terror roll down her face and her whole body violently trembled,spazzing in different places at once. Her breathing was rapid and shallow,on the verge of hyperventilating,her body and orgins weren't getting enough air-she felt sick and dizzy...

The giant came to a stop,looming over her-this was it! She was going to die,crying like some baby,alone and deffensless. Why hadn't she listened to Amber and just stayed inside of her house,maybe this wouldn't be happening to her now. Holding herself tighter,she braced herself,hearing the machine move to reach down for her...to crush her no doubt...she held her breath and waited,eyes tightly shut-she was not brave enough to watch her death coming.

'Human...do not fear us...'

It spoke! Just like her hummer the night prior to this had! Holly didn't know if that made her feel any better but ignoring the little voice in the back of her mind that told her to run,she slowly released her arms from around her head and glanced up to the giant. The robot was massive,way bigger then she originally thought when it was further away from her.Finally she was able to make her eyes focuse,she noticed that there were more robots in this room and they were all huge and frightening to look at (not that seeing a giant robot is frightening to start). They all looked as if they were ready for some big war, with an assortment of weapons and twisted metal covering them. She allowed her gaze to fall back to the one speaking to her,it obviously wasn't the largest in the room but seemed to hold some sort of authority or certainly the others would have killed her by now.

'What...What do you want?'

She managed to cholk out,taking a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes. Holly had no idea what was going on but knew that getting these things mad probably wouldn't be a grand idea. The one speaking to her bent down lower-allowing one hand to rest right beside her and intimidating her alittle. It was almost clawed,the fingers were unnaturally long and curved into sharp points.

'To protect you,of course...'

As he spoke,his voice seemed to go up or lighten,like he was smiling but honestly Holly couldn't tell,not that she was looking at his face-she was too focused on the deadly looking feet,still believing that he would smoosh her. She didn't trust these things but as it spoke some more she slowly began to forget her fear of the robots being minless killing machines,though they still could be,she didn't know.

'I...Why? What are you?'

Laughing the robot straightened itself and waved his arm in a sweeping gesture towards the others then looked down at the human girl again,his eyes narrowing into small slits.

'Who are we? We are the great Decepticons-''

'Decepti-what?'

Holly interrupted,these things had a name for themselves? well that kind of made sense,were these 'Decepticons' aliens or some sort of government expereiment gone wrong? The one speaking to her growled,apparently not liking to be interrupted and deffinatly not by something lesser then it,or so Holly got the impression off of his actions. He leaned towards her again,and she tried to back up a little incase it randomly tried to eat her or something.

'We've travelled a very long distance to this planet. Chased away from our own home by our enemies,the fiendish Autobots. We soon discovered that they've followed us here, but they need something to finish us off for good...they need you...'

'...Me?...'

'Yes...Miss Holly Laine...You and something you possess...Which if you will...help us finish this war once and for all...Will you join us?'

'I...I don't...this is too much...I don't...'

'Too much for your primitive mind to handle?'

'What...I'm just...wait,,,.My Hummer...'

'Don't worry,he's one of us and fine.'

'good...I want to see him and...'

She could feel it pressing against her,before she could utter another word all the stress,excitement and already being over tired hit Holly like a bag of bricks. She groaned and tried to say something but her body wouldn't have any of it,she fell onto her back and passed out,unaware of the world around her anymore.

'Why didn't you just get it from her!?'

Growled a large black Decepticon with what appeared to be helicopter blades down his back,he took several steps foreward and glared down at the human.The one who had been speaking to Holly spun around and growled angerly back,he was in no mood to be questioned on his motives-he knew that for them to get what they wanted they had to try and convince the human that they were't going to kill her...though once she gave up what she knew,her usefulness to them would be no more and he would no longer care what happened to her.

'Because,Blackout,If we simply try to force it from her,she'd get frightened and fight us,and give her more reason to go running to the Autobots. Unfortunatly we cannot kill her...yet...'

'But Starscream.."'

'No! It will do us no good if she won't tell us the code,so until then,try not to do anything stupid'

Starscream also turned his cold gaze upon the unconcious girl,already he had other plans for her set in motion-and damned be to Megatron if he ever got the code and the weapon...


	8. Chapter Seven: Truths be told

Chapter Seven: Truths be told

Amber was jostled awake by the sudden stop,slittping foreward she managed to catch herself before hitting her head. The rude awakening was just another cogg to make her dislike these vehicles even more. Through sleep deprived eyes,Amber peered out the Camaro window and was puzzled when she saw they were surrounded by tall pine trees.

''Time to get out'

Amber only frowned as the Camaro told her to get out,grabbing her bag she was all too glad to just be out in the fresh air again. Walking towards the nearest tree,bag nearly dragging on the ground behind her-Why had they even brought her all the way up here?Were they planning on killing her and figured that this was the best place to do so? She didn't know and no longer really cared, all this wasting time was really irritating her.

'So...are you going to do anything? or is the most you are capable of is stalking innocent people?'

She growled,back still to the two vehicles,she would have said more but was interrupted. Almost in unison a strange noise filled the air and both vehicles transformed-slowly she turned to face the two. The semi was quite a bit larger then the yellow,which made amber very nervous.

'Are you going to continue to ignore me? Because I...'

'My appologies for not saying anything earlier-'

'You couldn't even give me one answer? A word? Anything to know that I wasn't about to be killed by some sort of possessed demonic Stephen King rip off killer vehicles?'

Now that they were deciding to talk to her,Amber felt no desire to speak to them,but she had to find out the answers she seeked. The red and blue semi kneeled down on one knee to become a little closer to the girl. Amber uneasily took several steps back, she had no intention of standing close enough for one of them to snatch her up in their hands and crush her if they desired to do so. The yellow one seemed to become preoccupied with something else and walked away,allowing the the human and the Semi to speak in semi-privacy.He also was looking around as if looking for someone or something to show up,and Amber wouldn't be surprised if more of these things showed up.

'I would have explained myself to you earlier but we had reason to believe that your dwelling was under surveillance'

'Grah..what...by who? Who else knows about giant frickin' robots? Don't tell me that Holly was right after all'

She grumbled,referring to the conspiracy rants Holly was prone to. The robot speaking to her gave a heavy sigh and could almost have been mistaken for some sort of human emotion. But robots weren't sappoused to have emotions...or so Amber had always heard.

'I doubt it'

'Then by who-'

'By those who seek to destroy your planet. If they get their hands on what your friend possesses.'

'Whoa-wait...What!?'

Amber didn't like the direction this conversation was headed.

'Give me a reason why I should believe anything YOU say'

She put all her weight on one foot as she crossed her arms over her chest-beng as difficult for these robots as possible.

'Of course-'

The robot stood up once more,probably in an attempt to look impressive but came across more intimidating and again Amber took several steps back.

'I am Optimus Prime,leader of the Autobots. We've travelled here to-'

'The What-Nots?'

'We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms or Autobots for short'

'Oh...Just a fancy name for 'Giant Robots From Space' then?'

If she had been in a better mood,Amber may have laughed at the reaction she recieved from Opitmus-he looked a little stumpped at to how to take her comment.

'Go on-oh great-Autobot leader'

'Our home planet of cybertron has become a war strifed shell of its former glory. The Decepticons-'

'Disect-a-kuns?'

She had heard proberly,she just enjoyed making the Autobots explain everything-and it wasn't just out of spite that she did this,it was also another way to gain information.

'The Decepticons are like us,they too come from Cybertron but have become twisted and blind by corruption. They follow a ruthless leader by the name of Megatron. Who will destroy anyone in his path,he also believes Humans to be beneath him and should be _eradicated._ They will do what they have done to Cybertron if not stopped.

Optimus looked down at Amber expecting her to cut in again as she had done in the times previous. However,Amber was not really paying any attention to what the giant was doing and was mulling over the new information she had just learned. And had to snicker inwardly as there was one thing she shared in common with this Megatron guy,she thought the human race should be eradicated as well,but she didn't feel that revealing this to Optimus would be a good idea. Did this make her a bad person? to want her own kind destroyed? No,because she was human and classified herself in with those to die-though she would perfer to be last to die.

'So...What does this have to do with Holly and I? And what about her Hummer and my car?'

'Megatron and the Decepticons have learned of a weapon so great it can end the war thats stretched across the universe. But they need a code...and the location of the weapon'

'And Holly knows something about this?'

'We believe so'

'Optimus...we have a problem'

The yellow car interrupted,not looking impressed and more down right disgruntled over something. Behind him stepped another one of these robots,silver in colour-when had he arrived? Amber shrugged,but decided to easedrop on the conversation,maybe they'll tell her more about what was going on.

'Bumblebee? Jazz...'

'I'm sorry Optimus, but I got to the girl too late. Barricade and Hammershot reached her first'

'Hammershot!?'

Optimus seemed a little startled,both concerned and relieved upon hearing the name Hammershot-who was that? Amber knew that they must be talking abotu Holly and was about to reveal to them the last thing Holly said to her before losing contact with her friend,about the robotic cat or whatever,maybe they would know what that ment. The ground began to shake,she gave a small yelp and waved one arm in a circular motion to keep her balance,which shouldn't have been able to work given her body wanting more rest.

'Now what!?'

she growled,mind instantly expecting them to be attacked again but something this time...maybe even that Mega-guy. Turning around she saw a flash of movement followed by trees crashing around her. surprised,she jumped back onto her rump-the yellow car lept foreward to put itself between her and whatever was out there. Though she was nearly trampled flat by it in the process,she growled. The air was shattered by a thunderous roar,followed by just a loud voice,

'Me Grimlock say you no play with new toy'

Jumping into view was a giant robotic T-Rex! Amber stared at it wide eyed and felt her heart beating a million miles a second, Who or what was this beast? The fact that none of the giants around her had attacked it probably ment that they knew it and or it was even part of their group,the Autobots or whatever they called themselves.

'Grimlock, I need that back...get over here'

Came another voice,but it wasn't as booming as the robots-in fact,it sounded human! and true enough,a few moments later, a form of a man came jaunting into view,he wasn't jogging but neither was he walking,but he did have a quick spring in his step.

Amber's eyes went even wider and she gave a small gasp,she reconized this man...Devon!


	9. Chapter Eight: Reasons and Lies

Chapter Eight: Reasons and Lies

Devon!? What the hell was HE doing there? And secondly...WHY was he there? He didn't seem bothered at all over the fact there were several giant robots standing only feet from him,but then again,that wasn't all that surprising. Amber pushed everything else out of her mind as she sprung to her feet-moving faster then her body was willing to, she was running straight towards Devon.

Devon wasn't even aware that Amber was there,his attention was entirely fixed upon the dinobot.

'Grimlock,I need that to-'

His sentence was cut short as he caught movement to his left,shortly followed by a swift kick to his rump.

'Ouch!'

Devon yelped as there was strength and anger behind the attack,which would leave a nasty bruise later. Bumblebee gave a whistle of sympathy and promptly fell silent as Amber wheeled around on him,she looked as if she would attack him next-despite her diminitive size compared to him.

'Amber...'

Devon half grunted,rubbing his bottom-freezing as Amber growled again and side glanced to her friend,eyes narrowed into thin slights. Striking quicker then he had seen her move before,she kicked him again. This time in the leg just under the knee, it wasn't as forceful as the first kick as Amber had lost alot of her momentum but it still hurt fairly badly. Legs giving out under him,he grabbed onto Amber's arm so that she would fall with him. Even before the pair had hit the ground,they were locked in a ball of fists,feet,teeth and curses-though it was all muffled and looked rather odd. Bumblebee glanced to Optimus who gave him a 'Let them work it out for themselves' look in return-he knew the two humans weren't seriously trying to hurt each other.He quickly turned his attention back to Jazz,he wanted to know how and why the Decepticons got the girl. He had a theory but he wasn't going to reveal any of it until he deemed the time so. Jazz knew that no matter what he told Optimus that he would still feel the same,and he knew that any way he worded his actions that Optimus would be a little disappointed in him.

'Jazz,what happened?'

'I wasn't really expecting Hammershot to be already on the move towards the girl. I figured that I would have a little time'

'A little time?'

Though he didn't sound cross,the question sounded more in tone with 'Time with what?', Jazz wished that Bumblebee and the humans weren't there, he rolled his eyes a little and continued on.

'I guess I was hoping that Hammershot would take time to rest,after all Scout must have done some damage to him as well and he would have known that the girl wouldn't return to her home right away.'

He paused,everytime he said the Hummer's name he felt weird,almost ill to his stomach-and it wasn't just because of the severity of the beating Scout had taken, but he also knew that after this time hearing the name was worse for Optimus...though the leader wouldn't speak of that day.

'I was trying to...'

Jazz wanted to say that he had been scouting the area,but that wasn't entirely the truth. After he had seen the mangled wreck of Scout,he had lost a little of his self control and had tried to go after the Hummer. By now he was certain that that was what Optimus suspected as well. This was a matter for later,seeing Jazz's discomfort,Optimus chose to change the subject and wait for a better time to continue the conversation.

'Right now our main objective is to make sure the Decepticons don't aquire possession of what the girl holds. Whiether it be the location of the weapon or its code, we now have no choice but to change our coarse of action. This is no longer a retrieval mission,its now a resque mission. The longer we stand around here,the closer the Decepticons come to gaining the power to destroy us all. We have no idea what they're putting her through,but to gain the information they will stop at nothing,I don't think I need to remind either of you what that means. And once she gives them what they want,they will kill her. For this,we'll need as much help as possible.'

'Me Grimlock want to help too'

The dinobot had been paying attention in his own way,he wasn't entirely sure what the Autobots were talking about but he did catch the part about the Decepticons and he wanted nothing more then to stomp them into the ground. Optimus nodded to Grimlock before continuing on,

'Jazz and I'll return to the city to meet up with Pomperous,Ameba,Prowl and Blurr-Grimlock,I want you to take Devon and bring whatever weapons you have back here-and Bumblebee,take this girl to Ratchet and Scout they can fill her in,and you can let Ironhide know the situation we have now'

'Understood'

Bumblebee turned away as Jazz and Optimus transformed quickly,taking off down the small path back towards the city.

'Me Grimlock say it time to go home'

He too began to stomp off through the trees as if they were nothing and not thinking to make his exit as descrete as possible, he also didn't seem to be waiting for the Human he was sappoused to.

Upon winning the struggle against Amber,Devon sat triumphant n her back-in their fighting neither had caught what the Autobots had decided to do. Amber was busy trying to not cry and laugh as Devon poked the middle of her foot,he held it firmly and even as she tried to kick it away he refused to let go. The pair only stopped when they finally noticed that everyone was leaving-using Amber as a spring board,Devon got to his feet and began to jog after the dinobot.

'Grimlock! Get back here...Amber I'll talk to you later'

With that Devon slipt out of view,Amber glared up at the only one left with her now, the strange yellow car bot.

'Hey you-Yellow Car-'

'I have a name you know'

'So? I'm not going to use it. Where's everyone going?'

Bumblebee frowned,he didn't like being treated like scrap metal but knew that arguing with the girl now would only waste precious time enwhich he could be telling Ironhide and the others about the plan.

'C'mon,someone wants to see you'

As he said this,he transformed back into a Camaro and held open one door. Amber took a step back and growled,picking up her discarded bag and holding it closely to her chest.

'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me whats going on'

It was almost Deja Vu of the first encounter of the first meeting with the Camaro,only this time she had a little better idea of what was what. There was just no way she was going anywhere now without knowing who it was who wanted to see her...she still didn't trust these 'Autobots' and even with Devon's reassurance,they would have to work at gaining what trust she was willing to give.

Chris stared down at the heap before him for a few long minutes-the room was cool and dark,just the way he liked it.Though he wasn't much in the mood to enjoy it,given that behind him stood two very large robots. Finally coming to a decision,he arched he foot and gave the heap a good punt, it wasn't hard but it was enough to wake even the deepest of sleepers.

'Hey! Owie!'

whinied the heap-rolling onto her back,Holly opened her eyes,no longer really expecting anything and took everything as it came,she woke up with a huff. Blinking a few times she forced her eyes to focuse on who had kicked her,incase she had to scramble to her feet and flee for her life.

'Chris!?'

She sat up quickly and instantly wished that she hadn't-groaning she rolled onto her side and whimpered some more.

'Get up'

Chris growled,he had no patience to be given the run around-he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

'Oooooh...that felt funny'

'Kik'

Holly pulled herself to her feet,her relief upon seeing Chris quickly turned to concern as her eyes fell upon the two behind them.

'Oh...'

'Holly. What the hell have you done?'

'Nothing!'

'Riiiight'

Chris didn't sound or look like he believed her,crossing his arms over his chest he lowered his head and gave a dark growl. Giggling nervously, Holly backed away from her friend,she was too tired to handle a very disgruntled Chris AND giant robots.

'What do you know?'

she asked,trying to organize the thoughts in her mind, why was Chris even there? Did he already know about stuff and had been sent to toy with her? Or did they bring him to this completly ambigious place as well for complicated and confusing reasons?

'Nothing. Other then my truck drove me up here,on its own. Spoke. Transfromed into that giant robot over there. Oh and...I was nearly killed by a giant scorpion.'

'Pretty! I want!'

'Grrr...HOLLY! What the hell are you doing with Giant Transforming Robots!'''


	10. Chapter Nine: Shot in the dark

Chapter Nine: Shot in the dark

What could she say? She couldn't stand there like a voiceless blob,she had to say something. But what? Chris expected answers from her-Answers she couldn't currently give. Opening her mouth to speak,Holly was about to tell her friend what she knew when one of the two robots began to advance towards them. Chris instinctively growled as he moved around so that his back would not face either of the giants.

"Its not the matter of what she may be doing with us that you should be concerned about. But rather,what will become of you now that you know about us"

It was the blue giant that spoke,smaller then the other and a little less bulky he was known to Chris as formerly his Tundra. Who,earlier had explained to the boy what had attacked him and that his life enevitably rested on what happened in the few hours that followed the explination. Holly,on the other hand was completely clueless as to this giants relation to Chris and didn't know what to make of him...

'As I had told Christo...'

He paused,knowing how it irritated the boy to have his full name spoken,he decided to keep things simple for now and shorten the humans name...what an annoying trait these humans seemed to have,being so picky about their names.With a snortish sound he continued on,his brilliant red eyes watching Chris more then the girl,he didn't seem too bothered about her.

'Depending on the actions and words spoken tonight, will determine your usefulness and how long you may have to live"

'So..I take it, you guys aren't here to save us'

Holly commented,her tone was flat but she didn't seem to hold any resentment towards any of the giants nor the one who had lied to her earlier.

'What exactly did Starscream tell you?'

Now the second spoke,approaching like the blue one had. Holly instantly reconized him as her Hummer-that and she had seen him the night previous, though now that she saw him clearly he was alot larger then he looked last night.

'I...um...I don't really...I mean I was...honestly...He's...'

'It could have been worse for you,you could have been woken up by worse means and forced to face-'

'Beatdown, she's scared enough as it is'

'Good. The humans need to know their place'

'They'll be useless if they think we're mindless killing machines'

'You still hold your true colours,Hammershot. You may act like one of us. you may sound like one of us. But you are still soft...you are still an A-'

'Since when did you give a damn?'

'The moment YOU told me to get Christopher involved'

There was a pause between the two,apparently tension ran high betweenall the members of this faction. Hammershot,the hummer turned his attention back to Holly, he huffed heavily and continued his conversation with the girl just like Beatdown hadn't distracted him.

'Forget everything Starscream told you'

'Done!'

'Its..."

Holly smiled up at Hammershot,who looked momentarily stunned at how readily the girl was willing to forget what the other had told her...even though she had no reason to believe what she was being told now.

"a lie...'

He muttered to finish his sentence. Chris finally moved foreward enough and grabbed his friend by the arm,pulling her out of reach of both Beatdown and Hammershot.

'Why was I dragged into all this? Am I a hostage? And why aren't we both incorserated,locked away in some cell?'

'All excellent questions and all will be answered in time'

Hammershot was in no mood to deal with the human,he just wanted to see where he and the other Decepticons stood with the human girl. Holly had fallen quiet for a moment when Chris had grabbed her,though she didn't protest this she also didn't seem to want to be removed from the robots.

'Tell me the truth,Hummer...why are we here?'

Slowly she looked up to Hammershot,a strange glint in her eyes. Hammershot frowned,his facial expressions were easier to notice then most of the others, he wasn't surprised that she had called him by the vehicle he transformed into rather then his name-he hadn't formally introduced himself to her after all.

'You,Holly are here because you have something we need to finally end our war with the peace loving pathetic Autobots'

"Autobots? They're the 'good guys?'

'You could call them that. We are called the Decepticons,for future reference. Starscream had probably told her otherwise in an attempt to gain your trust, and you would be wise to not give him your trust lightly'

'He did what you're attempting right now..."

Chris stated more then asked, he knew where this conversation was going to lead and also knew that if he didn't try and talk some sense into his friend,they both may end up dead after all this.But knowing that she probably wouldn't listen to him anyways,Chris had to come up with a plan to save his own hide, if they even survived this.

'Exactly'

Hammershot replied dryly, his attention was removed from the humans as a loud chattering filled the air. Spotting the scorpion,Chris growled,the noise it was emitting was bothering his ears and he didn't like it, not that he cared much for the other two. Taking the oppertunity to talk to Holly in semi-privacy, he pulled her back further-he also didn't want her to go running up to the scorpion either.

'HOlly, i know what your thinking. Grow up! This isn't one of your fantasy stories...No Big Hero is going to whisk you off your feet and save you. This is real...These...Decepticons...will kill you...Kill us!'

'I know that already Chris!'

Holly snapped back, ignoring the dark look Chris gave her in return.

'Then think about it'

'I have'

'Holly...'

'Listen,we're going to die either way-I'd rather die on my terms,knowing its coming over knowing its coming but running around scared because I don't know when'

There was another pause, in some twisted way what Holly said made sense but as always she missed the true point.

'Fine. But remember just because you say that you're one their side,won't keep them from killing you'

'I know'

She pushed away from Chris,no longer meeting his gaze,and revealing that she was probably fighting her consense that told her to listen to him,she also looked like she might burst out crying...or laughing...sometimes it was hard to decipher the difference. Beatdown had over heard the humans conversation and was no longer surprised at their desire to die. Only Chris seemed unwilling to blindly throw his life away for 'Giant killer robots' as the Decepticon have been called in the past. However,now that Chris was involved with all this,Beatdown would have to come up with a better plan to keep the boy out of the war-for he needed this human alive. Unfortunatly,for what reason would have to wait til later to be revealed, for now he would have to bide his time and do what he had been for several years now...

Scorponok finished his conversation with Hammershot and quickly scurried off the way he had come, his metal feet causing a strange echo to ring throughout the room he was exiting. The Hummer was not impressed by what he had been told but decided there was no need to hide it from the humans now...turning back to face the others,he gave a slight growl to catch their attention once more.

'Crusher will be arriving in the morning-Starscream wants you to be at the airport when she arrives'

'Why?'

Growled Beatdown but already suspected the answer-he just didn't know how well this would turn out for them. The Autobots would have a specially keen eye for any suspecious movement now and would be deffinatly on the look out for the Hummer.

'Blackout,Barricade and Starscream will all be there as well. And of us all, the Autobots still have no idea about you.'

Beatdown gave a resentful nod,it was true though-in all this time he'd managed to stay out of the Autobots detection. He looked down to Chris,who glared darkly back at him-still unimpressed by all this.

'Holly...'

Hammershot began but was cut off as the girl spoke over him, she spoke what had been weighing on her mind.

'Why wasn't I just asked?'

'What?'

'Why didn't YOU just ask me if I was willing to join you, before all this craziness and Chris got involved'

'Because, we could not afford the risk of you getting frightened and running off to the Autobots'

'Why would I do that?'

There was a pause as Beatdown and Hammershot glanced at each other with the same puzzled expression,was this girl admiting that she had no intention of going to the Autobots even though she knew that she was with a group of hostile and violent robots.

'I want to help you and I don't care what happens to me'

'You're willing to sacrifice your life for the Decepticons? Even knowing that none of us would do the same for you?'

'Yes'

The look on Holly's face revealed that she was serious, the two Decepticons looked a little amused by the human.

'But...I have one stipulation...'

'Hmmmm...'

'No one is allowed to touch,harm,torture or otherwise kill my friend, Chris'

Chris cocked his head to a funny angle and side glanced at Holly,trying not to show the small shadow of a smirk he had playing on his face. He gave a few shakes of his head and chuckled inwardly at her condition,though he was surprised by it but had nothing to say against it either.

'Deal!'

Beatdown agreed,recieving a strange look from Hammershot which he ignored. This suited his plan for the better anyways and the boy now could have free communication with the other humans that were working under the Decepticons rule.

'Morning is still a long ways off, I'll take Chris home. I'm sure he'd perfer sleeping in a bed after all he's been through tonight'

'You might say that'

Beatdown transformed into his vehicle mode and waited for Chris-turning to Holly Chris growled lightly but had no real force behind it.

'You know, I'll get you for this'

He threatened and climbed into the Tundra,which nearly took off the instant the door shut. Holly grinned widely,apparently amused by something she was thinking about before turning her attention back to her Hummer.

'If its okay with you, tomorrow I want to go back to town and pick up a few things. And leave a note or something for my mym...I mean I'm freezing here in my Pj's.'

Holly jestured to the still damp clothing she as wearing,she hadn't gotten dressed before she had been kidnapped. Suddenly her eyes went wide and she gave a sharp scream.

'What!? What is it!?'

Hammershot looked around for whatever may have gotten the human girl so upset,he expected to see one of his comrades or even an Autobot that had some how managed to sneak it...but saw none of either.

'CHRIS! he...He...'

'Do you want me to tell Beatdown to come back with the boy?'

'NO! Its that...Chris...Saw me in my Pajamas!'

Holly wailed, falling to her knees and barring her face in her hands as her skin went a slight pink colour. Hammershot growled,he had honestly thought that something serious was wrong...he watched the girl in silence...knowing not what was so wrong about the boy seeing her in what she wore...He also didn't know if she was actually crying or just making loud noise for the sake of it...Humans! He'd never understand them...especially this one...


	11. Chapter Ten: Storms of the soul

Chapter Ten: Storms of the Soul

It wasn't the chill in the air,nor the cramped conditions on which she slept,but the radiant sun that woke Liane from her sleep. Groaning tiredly,she tried to stretch but her arms hit glass and she frowned-she always hated over night trips, they always ended with her in a fowl mood and achy from not resting in a soft bed. Glancing through the glass to her right to the world below,she reconized the terrain-they were almost to their destination. A fact that should have thrilled her as it ment she got to see things blow up but instead she felt sick inside,and knew all the reason why.

'Is everything alright?'

Spoke the female voice, Crusher had observed the humans odd expression,it wasn't one that she much liked herself. She'd seen it on Liane many times before, but this time was almost a near match to the one that had been painted on the girl's face the first time they had met each other,nearly a year ago.

'Don't worry about running into those lousy friends of yours, they will soon meet their end...I will be the personal overseer to that.'

'Its not just them...'

'...You mean...Oh...I see then'

The tone enwhich Crusher spoke revealed that she knew full well of not whom but of which individual the human was thinking of. Liane,knew this and to avoid any ackward conversation growled angerly,

'Just fly'

she commanded before the pair fell silent, Liane wasn't in the mood to talk anywyas,least of all about the things that weighted heavy on her mind and returning emotions brought on to her return to her home town. She really wasn't worried about those who had once concidered themselves her friends,no,they could easily be handled and lied to,none of them would suspect a thing. But it was 'HIM' that would instantly know that something was up,when she had left over a year ago,she swore to never return...If they were unfortunate to run into each other,it might prove a small dent in the over all plan. A small twisted smile appeared on Liane's face after a few minutes,though she would have justice in the end...she'd laugh as the Decepticons destroyed the city and everyone in it...she would enjoy seeing the pain and fear in his eyes as he knew he was going to suffer...begging for death...and even then that wouldn't even be half of how she felt and still did...It was his fault that Grace was gone...his fault and her father's...

Her thoughts were broken by the sudden appearance of another jet coming straight towards them,to her it was unfamiliar,Liane felt a little uneasy at its sight.

'Is that a friend or foe?"

She asked,leaning foreward as if to get a better look at the jet coming at them. She knew about both the Autobots and the Decepticons,and knew that not all machines were what they appeared to be. Liane now a little more alert reconized the jet to be a F22-Raptor,it was pretty hot in her opinion,but still couldn't shake the feeling she held. Crusher,on the other hand did little more then keep their course,she didn't seem bothered by the company but it was only after a few moments of silence that she replied to the human.

'That's Starscream...Megatron's right hand'

'Oh.'

The F22 flew inches over them,looking like he had intended to clip them with his wing but probably more so to startle the human passanger-and startle was putting it lightly. Liane had flown a jet before,a real one and was all too familiar with the manuvers each was capable of but she was still getting used to constantly being in one that she had no control over. Though she knew she was safer with Crusher then in a normal jet,she still had a small sense of fear of falling...She'd only agreed to help the Decepticons so that she could achieve her own personal revenge...she still didn't fully trust that Crusher wouldn't suddenly get bored of her and eject her without warning.

'Does he HAVE to do that!?'

she asked shrilly,as again the F22 buzzed them,this time there had been a very brief moment of contact-but it now was apparent that Crusher was moving too slow for Starscream's taste and was trying to hurry them along.

'No'

'Then why is he doing it?'

'Because he can. Hang on'

Crusher didn't give Liane a chance to reply as she suddenly nosedived into a freefall. Liane gave a scream of surprise and held tightly to the restraints keeping her seated properly,otherwise she would be plastered against the cockpit window like a flattened fly. Crusher gave a laugh,enjoying the freefall-she then brought her nose up,soaring back into the clouds and darting inches infront of Starscream. She knew she was annoying him,and that was what had made her start goofing off,that and she didn't much appreciate the other trying to force her to do anything. Despite also taking the form of a jet,she and Starscream didn't always see eye to eye and that put alot of tension between the two. Liane gave a small whimper as she thought she heard something behind her make an unhealthy 'pop' noise but she knew that if she said anything she would go 'unheard'.

'Crusher! What are you doing?'

Came Starscream's dark voice over the com-link,Liane fighting off the impulse urge to vomit,looked around for a moment...

'My thoughts exactly'

she commented under her breath,glad that finally Crusher had evened out and had stopped spinning at such speeds.

'Aw,C'mon Starscream-you really need to lighten up'

Starscream gave a dark reply in the language Liane quickly learned to be not human or anything remotely human,this gave her the impression that Starscream was saying something to Crusher that he didn't want the human to hear. She always hated it when they did that,believe that they should speak a language from Earth if they planned on staying there,more so English so that she wouldn't have to learn a new language. Finally, his voice returned to speaking in a way Liane could understand,perhaps Crusher was only being told off? she didn't know and currently she didn't want to.

'We have the girl,and from what I've been told,she is all too willing to give us what we want,but until then'

'Continue as planned? What about M-'

'The time for his arrival is quickly dawning,but don't worry about that, I have it under control'

With that the F22 took off ahead of them,disappearing into a large white fluffy cloud. Liane sighed deeply,other then Overkill and Crusher,she hadn't met any other Decepticons but she saw that they didn't seem to hold much regard for each other. She knew who Crusher had began to ask about and though she had never met him in person,she dreaded that day...Liane shook the thought from her mind and began to push back her resurfacing emotions again.

'So...Who's this 'Girl' that is apparently so important that none of you would kill her on sight?'

She assumed the girl was human,the impression she had gotten was that she was anyways, but she could be wrong.

'She's not important...we could care less about her...but its what she knows that is the key'

Crusher hummed a little as she tried to recall the name of the girl,she'd not really been paying attention when it was ever mensioned in her presence,she had other things to deal with.

'I think her name was something like...Hailey...Hillery...Hanna? I don't recall'

Liane's eyes narrowed slightly,she knew a Hanna but that was a popular name but all the names that Crusher had said started with an 'H'...It was probably nothing,there were loads of girls whose name started with the letter H...but still she began to feel a new sensation prickle the back of her mind. Closing her eyes as she saw the airport come into view,she decided to push it aside as nothing and concintrate on what sort of welcoming party she might have on the ground.

After what had felt like hours,Bumblebee finally gave in and told the girl that he would be taking her to her car. Though she still didn't seem to trust him,she got in-and on the short trip from where they had been to where they were going,she promptly fell asleep. This had set Bumblebee back a little,he couldn't transform with her side or she would be crushed,though he had contemplated it, then decided it wasn't worth the trouble. While waiting for her to wake up,he had informed both Ironhide and Ratchet of their situation and asked how Scout was doing. There didn't seem to be much to worry about currently,but the others did go off leaving Bumblebee to sort of babysit the human. Hopefully she would be in better spirits once she woke up,by now she had had a longer sleep then either time before. Ironhide was moving things around so that their base could accomidate more then a handful of Autobots,a dinosaur and several humans-the whole time he seemed to be muttering about how he should be the one out with Optimus rounding the others up and not stuck moving 'furniture' as he had called it. Ratchet also found away to busy himself,though he would reappear ever so often to check on Scout in the small medical room,he didn't stay long and the time between each visit seemed to grow longer then the last. With nothing else to do, Bumblebee had taken up to counting the times this happened and was sorely bored out of his mind. It had been over three hours since he'd last seen either Ironhide or Ratchet when a startling loud crash followed by a yell broke the air.

'Ratchet! Bloody...'

Bumblebee quickly turned his attention upon the archway leading to the other room (the medical room),he wanted to go see what was going on but was stopped when the familiar form of scout stumbled into view. He clutched one side of the wall with his right arm,his left swung limply infront of him,sparking every so often. It was more then apparent that he shouldn't be up yet-Scout's eyes fell upon Bumblebee and took a staggering step foreward before collapsing onto his hands and knees.

'Scout! What are you trying to do!?'

Bumblebee asked,concern for his friend heavily laced in his voice,he moved foreward a few feet but didn't want to risk having Scout fall on him and injuring himself more so. Scout didn't reply,instead he made a gruntinial sound before raising his head slowly, he seemed half out of it and like he wasn't entirely sure of who he was talking to.

'Why'd you bring her here?'

His voice was strained,and he wasn't doing his condition any good by thrashing around like this. Surely in a few moments Ratchet and or Ironhide would appear to find out what all the noise was about and drag him back into the other room where he belonged.

'Why did...'

'We brought her here because she was in danger. You were...are...in no condition to protect her'

'So...the creep got away?'

'Unfortunatly,Hammershot was long gone by the time we reached you'

Bumblebee paused,the image of Scouts mangled body flashed briefly across his mind. By all means and reasons,Scout should be dead-why had Hammershot not finished him when he had a chance? Perhaps,he did think that he had killed the Autobot and that was why he left,or maybe he had shown mercy towards his ex-comrade,either way...Hammershot would pay. Not only for this,but for turning his back on Optimus and betraying the Autobots to the Decepticons.

'Whats going on?'

The voice sounded foriegn and only after a moments thought did Bumblebee realize that the girl was awake now. He didn't know what to say,but didn't have to wait long before she grew impatient and climbed out-starring blurry eyed to the injured robot several feet away.

'Yellow Car ..w.hat...'

'Amber!'

Wheezed Scout,he was glad to see she was alright but still upset that she had been forced into all this...and brought here probably against her better judgement...infact...he was a little confused as to why she had even gone with the Autobots...but that was a question better left for when he was better.

Amber's attention tensified upon the one who had spoken her name-the only other who had was Devon, she was always referred to as 'The girl' by the others. But,the fact that this one knew her name made the nervous feeling return to her stomach. In her hazy state her mind never came to the conclusion that this robot was one in the same as her totalled car.

'Who are you!'

She demanded now, her voice was sharp and cold,not impressed by the lack of information she was getting for all her effort of putting her faith in these giants.

'Same as always,I see'

Scout tried to laugh but it was too much for him and his not answering Amber's question only caused her to glare harsher at him. Bumblebee transformed and walked past Amber towards Scout,now that he didn't need to worry about crushing the human.

'No...Bumblebee...she needs to-'

'You're in no condition'

Was Bumblebee's reply,he tried to pick Scout up but wasn't strong enough to lift his friend on his own. And wondered where Ironhide and Ratchet may be,maybe they didn't hear the sound of Scout falling or maybe something had happened...Turning his attention back to Scout,Bumblebee refused to give up on his friend.

'C'mon. You need to help me,you're too heavy'

'Thanks'

Scout grunted but knew that he had to do something. Bumblebee manuvered around Scout's currently useless arm,finding it easier to pull his friend up this way-the pair struggled for a moment before both stood on their feet.Scout wanted to dearly stay with Amber but knew that in his condition he would only scare and worry her more then she needed and gave no resistance as his friend began to lead him away. Scout silently swore to make it his duty to tell Amber the truth...and if she believed him or not was totally up to her.

It was almost time to leave for work, Curtis was finishing turning his computer off and brushing his hair when he felt the house shaking followed by a very loud engine. It almost felt like he lived under a flight path for commercial planes but knew better,he lived near the highest points in the city and actually was only a street up from where Holly lived. He grumbled under his breath as he spotted his action figures rattling and threatening to fall off of his shelves,he hated it when some large vehicle would come up his street,figuring it was probably due to some construction somewhere. He moved to his window,checking on his Yaris sadan,to make sure it wasn't crushed by whatever was rolling up the street. He spotted the large semi and stared at it for a minute,it had no trailer but again this wasn't a strange sight as there were a few truckers that lived around him. Sighing and checking the time,he dashed away to grab his uniform,and never noticed that the semi had no driver-nor that his Yaris suddenly started its engine and backed out of the driveway,again completely driverless.

By the time Curtis walked out of his front door,he turned and dropped his car keys,slack jawed and rather shocked. The driveway was now empty,his Yaris was no where to be seen...and now he was going to be late for work...


	12. Chapter Eleven: Run Damn you

Note: I'm sorry about the gap between updates,Its not that I've forgotten,its that on Tuesday I left my house in a hurry and am now living out with my cousin,so updates may come a little slower until I return home. which should be within a week or so. Anyways,this' the longest chapter yet,I hope you enjoy it. and again I appologize for the late update.thanks.

Chapter Eleven: Run Damn You!

Like always the house was still and empty as Holly stood in the middle of her home, eyes closed. It was almost eerie,but the family was more then likely out going on their own business or looking for her,though the first was probably the answer. This was probably the last time she would see this house again-it held so many memories both good and bad. On other days she wold be out in the pool or passed out on the lawn, enjoying her second day off and dreading Sunday as it would mean she had to go to work the following day (Monday). Taking in a deep breath of the familiar smell of the house,she tried to imprint the scent on her memory,finding it oddly comforting as thoughts she had been fighting off all night pressed against her mind. It must have been ten or more minutes that she had been standing there doing nothing as there was a loud and rather angery sounding honk from the street. Jumping slightly at the sudden sound,Holly quickly dashed to the open window and waved to the Hummer sitting infront of her house-they really were in a hurry,she had forgotten that in her reminising. Dashing away from the window she made her way to her old room,she would pack only what she would need,or was really important to her-which was going to be harder then it looked. Upon entering her small room,she snatched a bag that hung from her wall and pulled out a suitcase from under the bed,it wasn't that big but it would do. As she pulled things out of her closet she felt a sting of pain as the realization of what she was really doing finally hit her,frowning she bit her lip to keep herself from crying over it. Besides this was what she wanted,she knew that,and after all...wasn't it too late to change her mind anyways? No. She wanted to do what she was doing, and pushed the feeling aside like she useually did on other occasions,keeping herself busy by grabbing some clothes and a single framed picture from her dresser. She only paused again when she remembered that she had to think of something to tell her mother in her letter, saying that she was running off with some giant alien robots that want to destroy all humans wouldn't be taken seriously by her mum,she already knew that as Holly had a wild imagination and shared it with everyone-her mouth running off at times when it probably shouldn't. So,telling the truth,would be seen as a lie to cover something else up-so telling a lie to cover the truth was the way to go. While she pondered this she glanced out her window and noticed the sky was darkening,a storm was coming and it would soon hit...great...

Hammershot wondered how much longer Holly planned on being,already he knew that if anyone discovered them missing there would be hell to pay, Soundwave was sure to notice them gone soon and would send his counterparts after them. True,the girl was in league with the Decepticons now,but she was still human and had yet to prove her loyality to their cause. Hammershot was almost in the same position as her but had made his point more then once and he'd do it another dozen time if he had to. He growled,he wasn't bothered by Soundwave but he knew that as one of the more loyal to Megatron,he posed a problem and wasn't to be underestimated. Though Hammershot was lost in thought he wasn't completely unaware of what was around him-he knew even before the first droplets hit him that rain was eminant...he didn't care for it...but then again it was better then hail.

'C'mon Holly, or you'll see the bad side of Brawl'

He muttered inwardly,his patience now growing thin that the rain was picking up and had been about to honk his horn again when his attention was quickly divereted to what...Who...was coming up the street behind him.

'What the hell is HE doing here!?'

The vehicle,a red and blue semi,came to a sudden stop several feet away from the Hummer,he hadn't expected to find the Decepticon there or Hammershot was certain he wouldn't have reacted the way he had. Cursing inwardly,Hammershot,as strong as he was-was by far not strong enough to take down the interloper...Optimus Prime.

Well,there was one thing going for Hammershot-he was fairly certain that Optimus wouldn't fight him if Holly was in the way-he just needed to stall long enough.

'Hammershot-'

Optimus began in a warning tone but was cut off as the Hummer transformed and locked his shoulder cannon onto the Autobot.

'Still afraid to harm a few humans,Prime?'

'Hammershot,stop this madness'

'Or what? Or what are YOU going to do? Attack me? with all these humans around...'

He smirked coldy,he loved taunting the Autobot and he knew that Optimus knew this as well,they had never seen eye to eye but this was the first time in a long time the two had been near each other...or at least not without the accompaniment of others.The air was laden with more then just the storm's electricity, as neither spoke for a few moments as if waiting for the other to do something,finally Hammershot began to snicker and tooking a step back he seemed to lower his guard for a moment.

'She's joined us,you know. The girl...She was more then happy to oblige'

'Obviously,she's still not given you what you're after'

'What makes you think that? This human has more purpose then just that. While you and your band of merry do-wellers are around,she's better to us alive'

He now waved an arm towards the house and sneered darkly at the Semi,he took a step foreward but it was nothing more then to balance himself better-Optimus backed up and for a moment Hammershot looked like he hoped the other to transform but the expression quickly vanished.

'Have you lost your senses Hammershot? You and I both know that she would be dead by now,and will die as soon as she becomes useless-its not the Decepticons to make partners with Humans.'

He paused,seeming to ponder something over for a moment before continuing on,Hammershot growled,he didn't like it when Optimus did that.

'She deserves to know the truth, to know why she's been dragged into our war,she deserves to be free...to live'

'I made sure to tell her and even knowing that she will die, she's agreed to help us.'

'I don't believe you. Why would she want to see her friends and family suffer?'

Hammershot glanced to the house,the door was opening and he took the chance to return to his Hummer form.

'Here's your chance...ask her yourself'

Holly locked the door behind her,on her back was a tan and orange bag, in one hand was a black suitcase. She smiled as she felt the rain hitting her skin,she loved the heat and desert like weather but the rain was always a welcome change for her as well.

'Okay, I'm all packed,Hammersho-'

She was bouncing down her lawn and not really looking at the street,but came to a stop as a large semi came into her line of vision. It wasn't even moments later that without thinking,Holly had sprinted the remainder of the length of her lawn and onto the street and coming to a stop when she was between the Hummer and semi-arms raised level with her shoulders,she glared at the red and blue vehicle not knowing weither it was a friend or foe. This reaction amused Hammershot as he let out a small chuckle in a sort of 'You were saying?' sort of manner intended for Optimus. Slowly,Holly glanced over her shoulder to Hammershot behind her,her breathing now revealed that she just realized what she had done.

'Hammershot?'

She asked,looking for reassurance-perhaps it was a blessing that it was raining,otherwise people would have seen the strange scene and giant robot.

Silence caused fear to creep across Holly's mind,deciding it was better to return her attention back onto the semi,she growled and ignored the screaming pain in her arm holding her suitcase as it was growing tired of holding the heavy object.

'What do you want?'

She shot at the Semi after a few minutes,her tone was full of irritation and had come to the conclusion that it was probably an enemy given that it hadn't attacked her or demanded the Hummer to explain to it why she was being so defensive.

'He wants to take you away,to where you'll be 'safe', away from everything you like'

Hammershot finally replied,giving another dark chuckle inward as Holly took a step closer to him and further out of Optimus' range.

'I am safe'

'You don't understand...'

'She understands plenty Prime-its you who doesn't understand!'

Hammershot shot back in retaliation of the Autobot,but the time for talking was over and that was exactly what he had wanted,he wanted to corner Optimus into this sort of situation, he felt like he had more control...

'Holly..."

He breathed. Catching her attention,Holly once more turned to glance over her shoulder to the Hummer,looking like she expected him to give her instructions of somesort but as she felt the tension build she knew what he wanted even without him speaking it. Giving a slight nod she watched as a cannon slowly rose from his roof-there was no disputing the point that she would have to get out of there and quickly. Unfortunatly,Optimus also caught what was going on and almost simintaniously the air was shattered by the sound of the two transforming. As this happened and without any warning,Holly dashed around the Hummer and down the street towards the busstops. Hammershot moved so that any chance of Optimus chasing after her was impended by him.

'If you want her, you'll have to go through me first,Prime'

Hammershot growled with a zest he hadn't felt in a long while, he then lept at Optimus,knowing that the Autobot would be expecting a ranged attack. He knew he wasn't strong enough to stand a chance against him either,but the plan was to divert Optimus' attention long enough so that Holly could slip away and hopefully if she was smart hide and wait to be picked up by one of the other Decepticons. He groaned as he was thrown back away from Optimus and onto his backside,he would have to show his former commander what new tricks he had learned from the Decepticons in battle.

Holly heard the crunch of metal on matal but dared not to look over her shoulder-it wasn't that she was afraid of what she may see,but rather that she would lose her footing and fall flat on her face such as the clutz that she was. A blue Yaris Sedan came barralling down the street and skidding to a stop infront of her-it began to transform even before it had finished its skid. It took Holly a second to realize that she reconized this car, it belonged to one of her other friends,which made her wonder if he too knew about these things and if not then she hoped he didn't notice his car missing.

'Come with me, I'll take you to safety'

'Hell No!'

Holly yelled at the Yaris female robot who thought she was trying to help the girl-Throwing her suitcase at the Yaris,Holly again was confident that it was a friend of the Semi's just given by its chosen words-had it been one of the Decepticons,she wouldn't be given a choice.The suitcase bounced off of the Yaris and did little more then confuse her-Ameba had to fight the urge to tell the human that she was being stupid and they were there to save her,but assumed she was just scared because of the battle taking place not even a yard away.

'Its alright I'm a-'

'Go Away!'

Holly growled again as she dashed around a large tree,trying to put something between her and the robot. Ameba frowned,annoyed at the girl still, she decided to no longer try and convince this girl to come with her and force her to. Leaning foreward,she tried to stop Holly but was hindered by several large bushes as Holly ran through them. Pushing through,Holly broke through and ran away from the street and up a small path that lead into a large wooded area that surrounded many of the houses in this part of the city.

'Wait you-'

Ameba tried again,leaping after the girl this time,but missing horribly as Holly disappeared in the trees. Unless she felt like taking the risk of crushing the girl by trees falling over on her,Ameba knew that she would have to try and follow the human as closely as possible while staying on the street-transforming back into the Yaris,she took off down the main road to try and cut the girl off.

Breathing heavily,Holly climbed up the wooded hill,trying to get as far from roads and uncovered ground as possible. She could hear the two giants still battling by her house and it sounded like they were having a heated conversation at the same time. There was no way they would go unnoticed now,but then again...the people who lived around her area were sort of odd and for all she knew they may all be out for the day, and missing the spectical. But surely someone would see or the very least hear the battle and call the cops and then things would get messy-Holly did not want to be any part of that. She was so disoriented that she didn't know where she was going nor had she really given any thought as to where she would go from there.Her best option at the moment was to travel by using the large wooded areas in this section of the city and try to make her way out of town without being spotted.

'Hammershot...'

she sighed,she really didn't want him to die on her behalf-the semi looked way larger then the Hummer and knew that he was probably much stronger as well.

'Dammit!'

Holly slipped in her momentary distraction,the ground was horribly muddy and unstable due to the rain. She was moving fast,but not as fast as she would have liked,heading to the end of this patch of forest to go hide in the ravine near the end of her street,it was deep and narrow-the perfect hiding spot for now. But with that Yaris following her she would have to find the perfect time to run across the street from the forest to the ravine-there was enough time that the fembot would be able to transform and grab her if it was waiting for her there. Holly was starting to not care,the mud was drenching her clothes,she was worried about her Hummer,she didn't know what she was doing and let her body sort of go onto cruise control-just moving and she would eventually be fine.

'Holly? What the hell are you doing out in weather like this?'

The voice broke into her thoughts,causing Holly to pause and look around. Several feet higher on the hill she was climbing was a very wet and almost as muddy looking Curtis,though he seemed to have been unaware of what was going on up to now-otherwise he'd probably be with his car.

'Curtis! What..Your Car!'

'I know'

'What?'

'It was stolen. Amber must have told you. I called the cops and told Terry I was going to be late. Can I...get a ride from you?'

Holly narrowed her eyes,hadn't the Semi shown up she would have gladely given her friend a ride,even if she had to sweet talk Hammershot into playing along-however,she shook her head which caused her wet hair to slap against her skin and stick there.

'No Curtis. Your car...is busy chasing me'

'What!?'

'Your Yaris is ali---aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!'

Before Holly could finish her sentence the ground beneath her feet gave way and she fell onto her arm oddly,slipping down a steep hill-out of sight of her friend. Curtis' concerned calls and failed attemtps to move closer to the spot that she had fallen were washed out by the rain. He could do nothing but try to get to level ground and hope that his friend wasn't bleeding to death somewhere.

Holly groaned as she finally came to a stop,she'd forgotten all about that part of the hill,she often avoided it even in the best of weather. Pain raced through her left knee and soon the bloody wet pants were begining to soak in a red hot liquid as well, causing the injury to look alot worse then it probably was.

'Shut up!'

Holly yelled as finally the honking was so unbareable she couldn't ignore it any more,glancing away from her knee she prepared herself to face the Yaris and be dragged away.She didn't even realize that she was not sitting in the middle of the road,not until her eyes focused on the red Mitsubishi on a collision corse to run her over...she doubted that it was also a giant robot or else it would have transformed...well...this was probably it, she closed her eyes and waited for the crushing weight of the car to come down on her...


	13. Chapter Twelve: Arguements and Misunders

Chapter Twelve: Arguements and misunderstandings

The driver of the Mitsubishi was too consumed by the fear of running over the person in the middle of the street to notice a blue Yaris streaking straight towards it from a side road. A squeel of tires,the crunch of metal-the car was sideswiped by the Yaris,causing it to skid over the wet cement and spinning around several times. Only stopping once it was facing the opposite direction that it had been travelling,the Yaris had gone down a small incline and seemed to have gotten stuck on something. It was an awsome spectical to behold and had Holly not known what the blue Yaris was,she would have pushed her own shock away and gone to see if everyone was alright. Instead,she staggered to her feet and dashed onwards towards the ravine-there was a split second where she felt a strange sensation in her chest and she glanced over her shoulder as if hoping...hoping what? to see her Hummer? she was fairly confident that she never would see him again,deciding that the big semi had probably damaged him beyond salvation. Even if he were one of the 'bad' guys,he had 'given' his life for her,in a chance that she might be able to meet up with one of the other Decepticons-Holly wouldn't let his death be in vane and wouldn't allow the Autobots to take her away. Then,as if an invisible force had pushed her,Holly half slipped half lept down the steep incline to the bottom of the now flooding ravine.

The sudden down pour had turned the small creek at the bottom of the ravine into more of a muddy swamp,but nonetheless holly made her way through it the best she could,ignoring almost everything else around her.

It took nearly twenty minutes to reach the end of the ravine but she didn't care,but this time she just wanted to find a Decepticon,return to the base and dry off,though she figured they wouldn't be very happy with her,given the circumstances that she indirectly caused. Sighing she muttered to herself,a saying she had picked up from one the movies she had been oppsessed with not that long ago.

'Its better to ask for forgiveness then permission'

but would that way of thinking even matter with the Decepticons?...Probably not and she would really have to come up with a good reason on why they shouldn't harm her,no,they wouldn't kill her but they would probably do something to punish her...

She had been so deep in thought that she didn't realize that she was climbing the hill out of the ravien until she heard the honking of cars in the distance,stopping instantly,she slid down a little and pressed her body against the muddy ground as possible without slidding all the way back down the hill. Where the hell was she going? Perhaps that would be the better thing to be worring about other then wheither Hammershot was dead and what the Decepticons would do to her...biting her lower lip she closed her eyes tightly and tried to think of away to get out of town without being near a highway or easy access by road. Where she was now was a good place to hide,but then thoughts of that cat like dog robot came flooding into her mind and with a shiver she reopened her eyes,no she really didn't want to deal with the thing that nearly drowned her again. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of sirens,they were quick bursts as if trying to catch her attention, the noise was irritating and given the fact she was cold and muddy she didn't feel all that well either. With a deep sigh,she pulled herself foreward enough that just the top of her head would appear from the ravine,she glanced around and felt like a scared gopher or some sort of animal like that-and in a way she was. At first glance she didn't see anything and assumed the sirens had passed,but then she heard them again and turning her head to look up the road a little her eyes fell upon a black and white police car.She stared at it for a moment,the city's police cars weren't black and white,they were white and blue...she then saw the decals on the side of the car,

'To Punish and Enslave...'

she would have probably laughed at how blind she was,but she was just happy to see a Decepticon,joy spread through her and she pulled herself all the way out of the ravine,giving the police car a small wave as if telling it to come to her.It reved its engines,and as always she felt nervous-these things could easily kill her and any car revving its engines was a little intimidating regardless. It suddenly sped foreward but Holly wasn't its target,though for a moment she thought it was going to run her down,it was on the same side of the road as her and only swerved to miss her by barely a foot. She turned to see where it was going and wanted to shout curses after it but something new caught her attention,coming up the street at about the same pace as the black police car was a mostly white one,and it showed now sign of stopping. Holly noticed that it was again different from the normal cop cars and shook her head,true most people would probably miss the difference at first glance but eventually someone would get suspecious or the real police would try and pull the 'driver' of the vehicle over. Shaking her head,Holly didn't stick around to see how this fight was going to play out, dashing up the street in the direction the Decepticon had been parked,she knew that if she could make it to the old highway then she could probably make it unnoticed and hide until things blew over. Holly didn't even glance back as the air was broken by the now familiar sound of robots transforming and meeting in combat, she did however pick up that one of their name's was 'Prowl' but which one she would probably find out later...right now she didn't care.

Amber silently stood at the archway leading to the medical room enwhich the injurred robot had crawled out from. It was an odd sort of room,darker then the one they had just left and there was strange objects on the far end of the room,the air also had a tad chill to it,but nothing uncomfortable. Eyes darting every which way,Amber scanned the room for anything that could be useful to her or even an exit but failed to locate anything that looked vaguely familiar. She then brought her attention back upon the two Autobots-the yellow one more or less forced the blue injured one onto what looked more like a table then a bed. She was blocked from the blue one's view,but as she stood there her mind raced. Was it possible that the blue bot that knew her name was one in the same as her car? It made sense-he was horribly injured,knew her name,and was the same colours as the Mazda.

'Bumblebee-let me up'

'Stop squirming-'

'Geoff'

Scout weakly tried to push Bumblebee away but it was obvious that with every movement he made,he was only making his condition worse. As much as she wanted to stay,Amber saw her oppertunity to explore this strange place,she wanted to better acquaint herself with the base-especially if she was going to be spending any extended periods of time there,which she was more then likely going to do.

Moving away from the medical room,she wandered down a hall,she could hear strange noises from the rooms at the end,each of the doorways were tall and wide,made for the Autobots to easily walk in and out of. She would also be causious,she didn't know how many more of them were there and was certain only a handful knew that she was there and that she was very easily squishable wandering around like this. Her footsteps barely made an echo as she moved and she soon found her neck getting cramped from craning it at odd angles to look at the odd symbols that ran along each side of the hall. Amber had never seen them before and assumed that they were probably the Autobots native language. Shrugging it off and deciding to ask later,she continued on,taking in any small places to hide or the odd statue here and there.

Scout finally stopped struggling with Bumblebee and fell back,silent for a long few moments as he tried to collect and make sense of his thoughts,he was too tired for this sort of strain and he knew it but didn't care. Craning his neck to one side,he tried to look around his friend but failed and gave up after a few times.

'Where is she?'

'Who?'

'Amber!'

'Oh...her...I left her in the other room'

He jerked his head back in the direction of the other room,however,this only seemed to compound Scout's concern.

'You...left her...'

'Yea-'

'Alone?'

'Yes...why? is that a problem?'

Bumblebee took a glance over his shoulder,not sure if Scout was about to tell him off for leaving the girl on her own,but she would only yell at him if he hung around her any more and he already had a headache from her attitude since they first met.

'Yes! That's a big problem. go fin-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off by the entrance of Ratchet,who made no attempt to really be silent as he haphazordly walked into the room. Stopping only when he realized that Scout wasn't alone in there and that it looked like Bumblebee was pestering him and not letting him rest.

'Bumblebee,stop bugging Scout,he needs his-'

'But I'm No-'

'Can someone please-'

Scout didn't see to be paying any attention to Ratchet at he was trying to force Bumblebee out of the room,he was more concerned about what had become of Amber or more so...what Could become of Amber.

'He'll be no good to us if-'

'Ratchet,I'm only trying to-'

'We shouldn't leave her al-'

'Scout's going to-'

'He was up-'

'Amber's got a-'

'QUIET!'

The loud roar from a forth caused the others to instantly fall silent and glance back only to see Ironhide had now appeared at the archway of the room-not looking pleased with any of them.Glaring at each in turn,he growled deeply before speaking again,he sorely hoped that none wanted to continue cutting each other off in mid sentence and worse still,interrupt him.

'What's gotten into everyone?'

There was a drawn out pause,none of the other three seemed to want to speak first-but Ratchet cleared his throat before proceeding.

'Really now. If everyone would just leave the room, Scout can rest and '

'I don't want to rest!'

'Well,Obviously Bumblebee has been putting ideas-'

'Hey! Wait a minute! I was only trying to help'

Again the arguement picked up but Ironhide had no patience for those bickering to work it out themselves. He moved,seemingly unnoticed by the others and grabbed Bumblebee,pulling him back a few feet and ending the arguement.

'Bumblebee,can you please go find Amber and keep an eye on her until I'm better?'

Scout quickly asked before Bumblebee got into trouble from Ironhide-for a moment all eyes were on him as silence fell over them.

'She's too damn curious for her own good. She may be human...but she'd likely blow us up if left unattended to'

He finished,deciding not to tell them about Amber's obsession with buttons though it went handand hand with her blowing them all up,which he had no doubt she would do...accident or not. Knowing that now he didn't have much of a choice,Bumblebee pulled away from Ironhide and made his way towards the archway.

'I'm going,I'm goin'

He muttered with a deep sigh. Stepping out of the room,he spotted that the girl wasn't where he had left her only minutes earlier.He looked around with a groan,she could have wandered in any direction but was probably close enough to hear him calling for her.

'um...Amber?'

This had been the first time he'd used her name, Bumblebee walked down a hall that nearly paralleled the one Amber had actually gone down.

Ratchet had one hand pressed down on Scout's chest to keep him from getting up again,he was annoyed with the blue bot and would probably chastize him about how dangerous his running around was in his unstable condition had Ironhide not been there.

'Hear anything from Optimus or Jazz yet?'

He asked absentmindedly of Ironhide-who shifted uneasily towards the archway at the question.

'No,not yet but-'

'hmmm...Optimus has it under control. Besides,I've told you what worring does to-'

'I know. Just continue working on Scout like always'

'Ironhide?'

Scout asked weakly,he knew the weapons officer had a short temper but he hadn't seen Ironhide like this before. Perhaps he could find the words to find out whats been going on outside of the walls he had been confined to due to his injury.

'Someone should be back by now'

'well...how long have they been gone?'

'...I'm going'

Ironhide ignored Scout's question or was chosing not to answer it as he turned to leave. A loud scream from down a hall caused him to do a half spin and run in the direction the scream had come from. Expecting an attack from the Decepticons,he readied his cannons and lowered his head in a scowl.

'This' what you-'

He came to a skidding hault at the end of the hall,head turning one way then the next looking for the enemies.

'What's going on?'  
Bumblebee quickly appeared at Ironhide's left shoulder-also looking for any enemies. But neither could see any,instead they saw a blue sleek streak circling Amber and it became clear that her scream had been out of frusteration not of fear.

'Stop that! Go away!'

She stomped her foot into the ground,annoyed that she had been trapped by this blue car-it didn't seem to know what to make of her and its sped was annoying,not giving her the oppertunity to get away from it. Bumblebee smirked and lowered his head as he chuckled-Ironhide however growled,seeming to be disappointed that he didn't get to destroy a Decepticon or two.

'Blurr...what are you doing?'

Bumblebee asked,stepping away from Ironhide and trying to show Amber that the blue car was a friend and not an enemy. Turning on a diming and transforming,Blurr dashed towards his comrades,seeming to forget about Amber as he saw the pair.

'Girlgirlgirl-thegirlwasatherhomewhenOptimuswasmeetingupwithAmebaandnownownow-'

'The girl...was at her house...What was she doing there? was she alone?'

'Who cares WHY she was there-what was that about Optimus'

Ironhide turned his full attention to the fast talking excitable autobot.

Amber forgot all about her irratation as she heard the blue car speaking,she blinked once and was shocked...she understood him? the way he spoke was almost the same speed she did when she was in 'That' mood, as someone had kindly dubbed it 'Amberese',it actually began to creep her out. She spoke like a excitable robot before even knowing they existed? Getting past that she listened as the Autobots spoke of 'the girl' and assumed that they were talking about Holly...Holly wasn't dead!? Why would she return to her house,Holly wasn't that stupid,and what happened to Optimus? She wanted to find out more,but if the Autobots thought she was listening would they stop speaking about it? Decding to best pretend to be disinterested in the conversation she slowly moved towards the yellow car with a devious glint in her eyes,she would kick him for the sake of kicking him if he didn't notice her.

'OptimuswaslastseenseenseenfightingHammershotwhilethegirlfledonfoot.BarricadewastherefightingProwlbutI'venotheardfromeitherofthem,andIdon'tknowwhereJazzis.Whatarewegoingtodo?do?do?'

Blurr continued on,looking from Ironhide to Bumblebee and back again. The three fell silent for they realized how dangerous the simple task of gathering the others had become,and chances were if any of them left the base now they would only get in the way. With the majority of the Autobots somewhere between the base and the city,and all apparently busy fighting Decepticons,what were they going to do? It was highly unlikely they would be able to find the girl,she probably went into hiding the moment the first fight broke out,and wouldn't show up until she thought she was safe. Ironhide gave a dark grunt before turning and walking away,it didn't need to be said,he was going to go out and help where he could-and in hindsight,this probably wasn't the wisest ideas but no one dared tell him otherwise and as far as they knew the Decepticons still didn't know the location of their whereabouts.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: No choice,no chance

Chapter 13: No choice-No chance

It was an annoyance,being so much smaller then the height of the control panels-but then again,they weren't created with Humans in mind. Moving up his self made ramp,Devon went to the computer archieve of the ship where Grimlock currently called his home. Scanning the files,he found that in the past week he had been doing this more and more often,though it helped him understand the things he knew better,or at least thats what he kept telling himself. Behind him Grimlock was making a ruckas, probably looking for something but Devon didn't bother looking.

'Hmmm'

He opened a holographic image of a large old book,the location of the real book was still unknown but the hologram was just as good, he opened it to the first couple of pages that he had been able to decipher. It was barely even a dent in the size of the book but he hoped that what he had uncovered would be of some help to him now,the uneasy feeling in his stomach still hadn't left,despite the fact that he seemed to have managed to push the thoughts that came with this feeling away...for now. Glancing over the pages he frowned,he needed something,it wasn't like he could just flip a switch and move the ship to the Autobot base...or could he? No...He had been told more then once that it was basically a piece of junk now and that no matter how much they tried to repair it it would still just be junk. Though,Devon never ruled anything out,especially given the recent events of the past couple of days...there might just be a way...

'Grimlock,What are you doing over there?'

Devon finally asked as he found he couldn't concintrate with the dinobot making such a noise, there was a crash and the ship shook uneasily,creeking and generally sounding like it wanted to break in half and flood with the water of the river near by.

'Me,Grimlock looking for...fish'

Came the reply,in the time it had taken the pair to walk down the mountain and back to the small remote community where the ship was hidden and Devon lived,Grimlock had forgotten what Optimus had asked of him to do.And Devon was no help given that he hadn't heard any of the conversation that had taken place at that time.

'We'll go in a min-'

'Want go now!'

'We will, just-'

'Grimlock want fish now!'

Knowing that he wouldn't get any reading down either way now, Devon sighed and rolled his eyes,though they really didn't have anything better to do at the current time. He glanced back to the page he had been skimming,he caught the word 'Guardians' but the hologram flickered and turned off,which it did when the power on the ship was low,oh well the word probably was irrilivant to anything anyways. Devon then skidded down the ramp and dashed towards the impatient Grimlock-who was now thrashing his tail about excitedly.

'Calm down,Calm down, we're going-'

'Grimlock say fish are good brain food'

'Uh-huh'

Devon looked like he wanted to say something more but knowing that he was easily squishable at the current moment,remained silent. Maybe later,if he remembered he would bring up the matter of fish,brains and Grimlock.

'Little flesh bot hurry up'

'Okay,okay-hold your horses'

'Grimlock have no horses'

'Its a figure of speach'

'flesh bot hurts Grimlock's head'

'Its alright Grimlock,I hurt my own head sometimes'

'Why you do that?'

'I...Are we going fishing or not?'

Changing the subject again,Devon dashed away to fetch the fishing rods,though Grimlock really didn't need one. He also needed a moment to try and come to a conclusion on what the Autobots on the mountain could possibly be up to. But he was certain that if it were that important then someone would come to them,most of them knew where the ship was hidden...and if not...That was their loss. Devon quickly returned with fishingrods in hand,singing a jaunty but eerie tune he had heard from someplace,he could no longer remember where.

"And then from the heavens,brave warriors decended-to fight the growing darkness and protect the Guardians of the universe,sticking up for whats right and good,in a war that would seem to last an eternity."

She wasn't entirely sure how she had managed to do it,but she had gone nearly fortyfive minutes without being found by either Autobots or Decepticons. She'd seen a large amount of what looked like unmarked police cars and vans head up the hill but none stopped or appeared to have noticed her. That was another blessing,as she really didn't care for trying to talk her way out of having any connections to the giant fighting robots. Though as a vehicle passed she would tense,before her uncertintiy passed,it was annoying and she hated feeling so freaked out.

Finally,she saw a place to use as refuge,if for a little while-her work,she had friends there that would help her.Dashing across the parkinglot,she passed many cars,glad to see that her friends Brian and Richard were still working as both their cars were still in the parkinglot. His silver Subaru glistened as the rain on it looked more like diamonds encrusted into the doors and hood,with the way the street lights were hitting the car,it made it rather breathtaking. Not slowing her pace as she entered the kitchen,Holly nearly collided with Richard. Who gave her a curious once over before continuing on,he was almost done his shift and looked like he wanted to get out of there.

'Holly! What are you doing here?'

Came the loud call from a red head standing infront of the grill-grinning widely was Kenny,waving once with a scrapper in his hand. Having Holly randomly show up looking like she had just been mauled was normal behavior for her,so none of the friends and coworkers had reason to think that anything could be wrong.

'Hide me!'

Holly yelped,running around the back wall and onto the front half of the kitchen,she promptly forced herself into a small cube shaped space betweent the counter and floor. Brian and Don were both online and stopped what they were doing to watch Holly spazzing out over nothing as far as they could see. Narrowing his eyes Brian quickly noticed that there was a slight difference in Holly's behavior,and apperance,he just didn't know what.Moving away from the grills,he wanted to confirm a thought,moving past Holly as if to go around to the back freezer-his mind was elsewhere,the way she acted was like she had met...one of the Decepticons...or even possibly an Autobot,Holly would probably react the same way. He did know that there was a person in the city that was desperatly sought after by the Decepticons-could Holly be that person? Or was she just unlucky or stupid enough to get in the way...he decided the latter was probably the better assumption.

'Holly,what are you-'

Kenny had been laughing at how Holly looked very cramped in the small space,but something at the back door caught his attention. His smile wavered for a moment as he saw a strange person standing there,he assu;med it must have been one of Holly's friend in costume and the one Holly was hiding from. He had to admire at how real the costume looked and wanted to know where the 'friend' had bought it.

'HI! And who are you sappoused to be? Terminator's demon child?'

He chuckled but was drowned out when the 'friend' made a loud squeeling noise,sounding more like it was dying cat of some sort. Brian no longer had to move towards the back to know who...or what exactly was standing there.

"Frenzy!'

He growled,having met the bot once before-Brian lurched foreward and grabbed Holly around the arm,pulling her from where she had hidden herself. Moments later Frenzy lept through the window over the grill and latched himself around Kenny's upper body.

'What the...aaaah!'

Kenny yelled, stumbling back,he tried to catch himself as he half fell back-landing with one arm behind him,right on the back grill. He yelled in pain as the smell of burning flesh filled the air, Frenzy seemed to enjoy this and momentarily forgot the whole reason why he was there.

'BRIAN GET OUT OF THERE,NOW!'

Came an angery voice from almost the same direction Frenzy had come from. Brian was already on the move,still toting Holly behind him,now she was starting to fight him.

'Brian let me go! Stop it! you're hurting me!'

Holly wasn't sure what was going on or how Brian fit in with any of it but her struggling was in vain,Brian was much stronger then her. He managed to pull her outside,where his Subaru had its doors open and engine revving impatiently.

'Brian...wait...'

'NO!'

He pushed her into the passanger side,the door snapping shut instantly-Brian ran to the driver side. The moment he was inside,the car backed up before peeling out of the parkinglot.

'Fuckit Brian! Let me out!'

'I can't'

'You can!Let! Me! Out!'

'I can't! Because I'm not in control!"

There was a pause,Brian looked pissed but Holly knew him long enough to know he was concerned and trying to make sense of what was going on.

'Stupid Autobots'

'Shut your voice box stupid human!'

Snapped the Subaru as it turned on the main road heading towards the car dealership district of the lower hillside area,it was going to use the cars and other assorted vehicles as cover to get away without any difficulty. Brian slowly glanced to Holly and tried to keep his voice calm and even,wondering just how well she was taking to this.

'So,you know about the Autobots...what about the...'

Brian began slowly, they were passing the Budget (a storage,car rent store) when the Subaru came to a skidding hault,slipping over the wet cement and causing both humans to hold onto their seats for life.

'Get out-'

the Subaru demanded,the two didn't need to be told twice as they both crawled out the passanger side,what had caused the car to stop was yet to be seen.

'Pomperous! What the hell'd you-'

'Blackout!'

The Subaru transformed moments before a large nasty looking blackish Decepticon appeared-it was the propeller blades down his back that made Holly realize that she knew this one,she had seen him briefly one before when Starscream had been talking to her.

'Finally...Hey over here!'

Holly began to walk towards Blackout waving her hands with a relieved look on her face,Brian however was not sure what his friend was doing but he grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back again. He glared at her,he wasn't about to give her a choice in this situation,she would go with him and Pomperous, he wasn't going to take the chance that the Decepticons just wanted to kill her.

'Stop it! Brian let me go-'

'Holly,he's one of the bad one's-'

'I know-Now let me go!'

'No!'

Brian's grip tightened,he was not surprised that Holly wanted to go with the evil robots-what he didn't know was that she'd already joined them. She again tried to free herself from him, but he only held on tighter and didn't seem to care that he was hurting her. Blackout swung one arm around and connected with the Subaru,tossing him into the Budget buliding-destroying most of it. There was an obvious huge difference in strength between the two and Blackout was the stronger. He moved foreward,his only goal now was to destroy the Autobot and he didn't seem to care that he almost stepped on the girl he had been sent to retrive...


	15. Chapter Fourteen: The pickup

Chapter 14: The Pick-Up

'Brian let me go!'

"No,Holly-'

The two struggled up the street a little more,trying to get out of range of the battling robots-Brian was determined not to let Holly go to the enemy,while Holly was determined to return to the Decepticons at any cost.

'Why don't you fight like you mean it?'

Pomperous taunted Blackout as he managed to evade being pummeled by the Decepticon.

'C'mon,weakling...'

'Shut up and die!'

Blackout was tired of the Subaru's taunts and raised a fist,again connecting with Pomperous-who was sent sailing several feet back. He skidded to a stop but wasn't quick enough to get back onto his feet,he was hit with a burrage of bullets as Blackout slowly advanced towards the downed Autobot.

'Brian-Don't you care that your car is going to die!?'

Holly asked as she dropped to her knees,using her dead weight in an attempt to pull herself out of Brian's grasp.

'He's not my car,he's an Autobot...AND if he does die,it'll be YOUR fault'

Retorted Brian darkly,his eyes narrowing as he managed to keep ahold of Holly,despite her tactics. She returned the look and growled angerly at Brian-it wasn't uncommon of him to not give a damn but it directly effected him,which normally he did take concern in, so perhaps he was just covering up his true thoughts from both himself and those around him.

'Stop goofing around and come with me-we can contact Opti-'

'NO!!!'

'Why the hell not!?'

The scowl on Brian's face could easily pass as one often seen on Chris',but it was no match for the dark and deathly serious look on Holly's,her eyes were dark and almost souless.

'Because I've already chosen my side and its NOT with the Autobots!'

Brian jerked slightly like he had intended to release her,disgust crossed his face mixed with the questioning look of "Why?',he was obviously trying to understand her logic,something he hadn't done since they first met,but now he knew he needed to understand her reasoning.

'This is serious-'

'I am serious.'

'Stop being-'

There was a pause as Brian tried to think of the right words,suddenly he was thrown foreward-sommersaulting over Holly,he finally lost his grip on her. It took them both a moment to realize what had just happened-Brian focused his eyes and cursed loudly as he tried to push the small silver and blue robot that had collided into him and now sat on his chest. Frenzy chattered loudly at Brian,raising his arms and began to try and slice the human to pieces,apparently he had followed the Subaru from the restaruant to where they now were.The fate of those who had been in the kitchen at the time was unknown,though neither human seemed to care as this was going on.

'Holly!'

Brian called,though it sounded as if he were pleading for her to help him,Holly knew it was more of him threatening her to stay put until he had finished with Frenzy. Growling,she pushed herself to her feet and turned to Frenzy,though she doubted he would even acknowledge her,he seemed to be having fun.

'Thanks'

She muttered to the creepy little Decepticon before she ran off away from the two fights and chaos,towards the University,there were less people and more places she could take refuge from if there was to be another fight between the robots there.

Brian was pissed,not because Holly hadn't stopped to help him like a friend would of,but because he really didn't have the patience to deal with any of this. He managed to get his feet under him and roll onto his side so that Frenzy fell off balance and rolled off him as well.

'Damn freak!'

He growled,springing to his feet and taking a quick glance around to see which direction Holly had gone-she was already a good distance up the street and by the time he caught up to her she would be at the University,which she knew better then he did. He turned his attention back to Frenzy who was after him again,dodging as two blades went whizzing past his head-they came back and one clipped him in the shoulder. He had nothing to fight back with,punching a robot with bare fists was a stupid idea,and on top of trying to stay alive,Brian had to keep an eye on where Blackout was incase the larger Decepticon decided to wheel around anmd smoosh him while taking a break from pummeling Pomperous.

There was a crunch of metal followed by a burst of heat-what had remained of Budget had burst into flames. Pomperous shakily stood to his feet amongst the flames that didn't seem to bother him at all, sparks were flying off of him as he moved foreward with a groan of effort.

'Why won't you die!'

Blackout was frusterated that the Autobot still lived,but it was mostly due to Pomperous dodging alot of the ranged attacks and only getting hit by the close combat ones. Reading both his cannons,Blackout took a stepforeward before he was hit by a strong force that hadn't been caused by Pomperous. Quickly moving to catch his balance after stumbling a few feet,he turned to see what had hit him,expecting to see some stupid humans but instead csaw that charging straight towards them was Optimus Prime. His frusteration disappeared as he chuckled darkly,side glancing Pomperous before turning his full attention to the Autobot leader,he would lavish in this chance to take a piece out of Potimus.

'Back off Blackout!'

Optimus warned,leaping over some vehicles,he would rather tend to Brian and Pomperous then to fight the Decepticon. Blackout,however,had other ideas,he readied a cannon and waited to get a good shot off on the still approaching Autobot. Pomperous could have attacked Blackout while he was distracted but knew better,he heard one of Brian's yells and turned to the human. With a growl he moved foreward and swipped Frenzy off of Brian. Yelling angerly in their own language,Frenzy tried to free himself but to no avail.

'Stop degrading yourself'

Pomperous sneered before tossing Frenzy like a toy towards the back of Blackout. Who took no notice of the little bot hitting him,Frenzy seemed to recover quickly and was reading himself to attack Pomperous for treating him like t hat.

'Blackout-what are you doing?'

Starscream's voice travelled through Blackout's com,who gave no reply only stopped momentarily. Moments later a F22-Raptor flew overhead,catching the attention of both Autobots and causing Optimus to skid to a hault. The Distraction was enough for Blackout to relunctantly turn around and transform back into his vehicle mode.

'We'll finish this later,Prime'

He promised as he took off after Starscream,obviously disgruntled that he hadn't taken the chance when he had to attack Optimus but was quickly informed as to why he had been stopped. That and t he girl was good as theirs again,they didn't need any more chances for the Autobots to steal her away.

Optimus watched as the Decepticons took off,he slowly began his approach again,not entirely sure that they wouldn't return for another attack. Brian growled darkly,he was bleeding on his shoulder and both his arms were torn to shreds,he honestly looked as if he had gotten into a fight with a blender.

'It would have been nice to have a little warning!'

He rounded on Optimus,who only gave a sigh and shook his head,he too hadn't expected things to go the way they had. None of them expected that Holly would be running around,basically unaccompanied,though Optimus knew more then he was willing to share at the moment.

'What the hell Optimus!? Holly!? What's going on!?'

'I'll fill you both in on the way back to base'

Brian opened his mouth to protest this answer but Optimus transformed as if making his point final.

'R-3! How many flippin parking lots does one University need!'

Holly growled,she was at the far side of the University and luckily most of her run there had been down hill. The rain was becoming heavier as she moved further away from the buildings-and her pants werer now completely caked in mud.

'Stupid Mud!'

she sighed,glancing down at the ground in an attempt to try and avoid the next muddy puddle of water-unfortunatly as she did,she lost her balance. Her body decided to finally give out and she fell foreward into the very puddle she'd hope to avoid.

'Dammit!'

'Having fun?'

The sneering voice seemed really close to her,confused Holly looked up and saw that she was no longer alone.

'Chris!'

She was so happy to see him but he hadn't been there moments before...had he? She hadn't heard him walking up to her or the engine of his Tundra,but since he was inside of the truck then perhaps they had been there all along?Deciding to not care where he came from,she pushed herself up and grinned sheepishly,though Chris looked slightly annoyed.

'Are you done playing?'

Growled Beatdown,his tone was far more irritated then Chris,obviously he didn't like the idea of having to hunt the girl down and bring her back like some disobediant pet. This didn't surprise Holly though,and she knew that now she was going to get into loads more trouble.

'I needed to get a few things from hom-'

'I don't care-get in the back'

'The...Back?'

Holly looked from Chris to the back of Beatdown and back again.

"Chris?'

'I agree. In the back'

'But...'

'I am NOT going to let you ride inside while you're that filthy'

Beatdown growled,apparently there was some other meaning behind his words but Chris nodded in agreement,and smirked darkly at his friend.

'Do you know how hard it is to clean mud off of this aplostery'

'...I hate you...Both of you...'

Holly scowled as she hopped into the back of the truck,laying on her stomach,the ride was going to be a rough one.

'Hold on'

'To what!?'

She whimpered as Beatdown pulled a three-Sixty in the mud,causing Holly to roll onto her back and for more mud to splash over the sides,hitting her in the face.

'Hey!'

Holly's shout was only replied by the sound of twin chuckling,these two were far too similar and in away Holly found them more frightening then any of the others she had met so far...well,Chris always had frightened her,but know he had back up...great...Her anquish only amused them more...it was going to be a LONG trip to the base and again Holly would find herself there cold and wet...If only Amber were there,she surely would have something to say about that.

Close to an Hour later-Chris glanced out his back window and smirked as he saw the condition Holly was in.

'Did you die?'

He asked hopefully with a chuckle,there was a small growl in response. Though he couldn't see the dark look on her face as her hair was plastered all over it,making her look like a demented form of cousin IT from the Adamsfamily.

'We had better be there soon or I might roll over the side to my death'

Holly grumbled,she no longer could tell if they were moving or not. Her body would rotate from being incredibly numb to shaking and back again,causing her to feel like she was being tortured by somethng.

'Heh'

'What? That's not an answer...'

Shaking his head,Chris climbed out of the truck and began to walk away. They were back in the room Holly had originally awoken in,they'd made it to the base with no trouble at all but now Chris really had no desire to be dragged into whatever punishment Holly was surely about to recieve from the other Decepticons.

'Chris!?'

Holly now sounded like her normal self but still hadn't moved from the back of the the truck.

'He's gone'

'What? Where? Get back here!'

Stupid Beatdown,you let HIM walk around willie Nillie but I-'

'Shut up.'

'No. Make me'

Beatdown growled and began to transform without any warning-Holly felt the shifting of the truck and yelped. Managing to find enough strength to jump out of the back,making her landing rushed and huring one of her knees.

'Owie"

She whimpered,pushing the hair out of her face and glancing up to the looming robot beside her now. He wasn't looking at her but more so towards a dark hallway-something or someone was there. Betdown remained silent before turning his attention away from the shadowy lurker-he found them to not be of any threat to him nor the humans.

Chris hadn't gone all that far, he'd reached the far wall of the room and had also noticed the lurker though he had no want to be near it nor the others at the moment. As long as it wasn't the damn scorpion that apparently wanted to kill him,he couldn't be bothered-after all,there were probably loads of other Decepticons all over the base that they had yet to meet.

'Was it worth it?'

Beatdown asked Holly suddenly,she narrowed her eyes as he now spoke to her like he'd never before,he no longer sounded uncaring about anyone but himself and more gentle.

'I...Uh...'

'Because from now on you'll never see the light of day again'

His cold tone returned instantly,then looked foreward as the sounds of the others arriving echoed throughout the room.


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Autobots Gather

Chapter 15: Autobots...Gather...

'You should have finished him,Prime,would have gotten a huge thorn in our sides'

'Nows not the time,Ironhide'

'What about the girl?'

'She ran'

'Ran?'

Optimus tried to move foreward but he was being swamped by a mass of questions and a sea of his comrades as they all seemed to swarm around him the moment he had arrived. Despite the battles throughout the high-end parts of town,very little had actually been damaged, and everyone had made it back in one piece...relatively.

'Why didn't you just grab her?'

Bumblebee asked,forgetting all about the fact that he was sappoused to be keeping an eye on Amber.

'Right! That girl sure knows how to make things difficult. She also knows how to take advantage of her surroundings'

Snorted Ameba as she walked past,on her shoulder sat a very silent Curtis.

'I "HAD" her but then bloody Blackout and Frenzy got in my way. She's not worth this much trouble'

Pomperous added,moving away from the cluster of bots and growled as he spotted the other humans,he really didn't want to be around anyone at the moment,more so humans.Amber spotted the silver bot and narrowed her eyes,he looked familiar-she just couldn't place where she had seen him before.

'You know she's just as important to us as she is to the Decepticons.'

Ameba mocked,doing her best to annoy Pomperous-who scowled and turned his back from the others,his mood only growing fowler the longer he remained around any of them.

'Brian was mauled by Frenzy AND instead of helping her 'friend',that girl thanks the stupid little prat and runs off to who knows where'

Again Amber's eyes narrowed as she listened intently to the conversations,it was hard to keep track of who was saying what as there were other quieter conversations going on at the same time, making the room very noisey and giving her a headache again.

'Amber!'

Curtis spotted Amber and gave a jerk like he wanted to jump off of where he sat. Glancing up,Amber saw that it was her coworker who had called her name as he was being lifted down from the female Autobot's shoulder. He grinned widely and gave her a tackle glomp,almost knocking her off of her feet and sending them both to the ground,but he caught them before they could fall. True,Amber was glad to have some human company again but now she wouldn't be able to follow the conversations as well as she had. Finally Curtis released her and looked back at the giant robots,his eyes still wide and a strange grin on his face, his glasses were slightly ascew as he was giving the impression that he was a little kid in a candy shop.

'Holly was right!'

'Huh?'

'My car is alive and she's so cool!'

'Wa...wait...You saw Holly?'

'Um...Y...yes?'

Curtis looked like he didn't know if he was sappoused to answer that or not,with Amber he didn't ever know what the real answer was,but decided to go ahead with the trueth,for now. The two seemed to have been ignored by the Autobots for the time being,they were more interested in what they were going to do now.

Optimus sighed and shook his head, their situation was more dilecate then before and he knew that if they tried to make any attempt to go after the girl again she would probably have back up.

'She seems to have sided with the Decepticons'

he stated after the questions had stopped for a brief moment,this sent a serious of angery and confused gasps throughout the group.

'Then we'll just have to go up to the Decepticon base and-'

'Wait...What about those humans in the unmarked vehicles?'

Jazz interrupted Ironhide,looking more annoyed out of the two, he'd been following the strange cars from a distance and knew that their presence had been detected.

'For now we'll have to be more careful,lay low and stay out of the city as much as possible'

'But Optimus-'

'Until we know what they want-I don't want another repeat of-'

'THAT...was deffinatly NOT my fault!'

'And no one's saying that it was,Bumblebee'

'I am.'

'Pomperous-'

The tension between everyone was obviously beginning to build and Optimus was in no mood to try and break up any fights that might break out amongst them.;

Curtis watched the robots and was still confused,his Yaris,Ameba had told him some things but not enough to keep him from asking even more questions.

'Amber...what's going on?'

He gave his friend a look like he didn't know if he should be concerned or to toally 'Geek' out, as it were.

'Where's Holly?'

Amber glared and turned her look to Curtis,she wasn't with her Hummer and she wasn't with any of the Autobots,had she taken off with a different Decepticon that Amber had yet to see?That was very plausable,given that if Holly hung around her Hummer too much he would become a mark for the Autobots.

'Curtis!'

She declared suddenly and loudly,watching as her sudden outburst had caused her friend to jump out of his skin.

'What!? I'm sorry?'

'...Aren't YOU sappoused to be covering MY shift today?'

'I...I think Robert's covering'

'Who's he working with?'

'Aaron?'

'Oh boy...poor Robert...'

'Hey, are you going to ans-'

Curtis cut himself off as he noticed Amber tense and turned to see what had caused her to react this way-the large red and blue robot was now looking down at them. Moving closer to them he kneeled down onto one knee and glanced between the two.

'Do either of you know why Holly has chosen to assist the Decepticons?'

Optimus asked, hoping that her friends might shed some light on why she would do such a suicidal thing. The pair glanced to each other,Curtis knew the Decepticons were the 'bad guys' and that the Autobots were there to stop them.

"Hummer'

They said in perfect unison-though Curtis didn't know for sure what side her Hummer would be on,but if it she wasn't there then the Hummer wasn't and by that logic that must mean that the Hummer was a Decepticon.

'Hummer?WhatHummer?whatwhatwhat?likeHammershotHammershot?Notgoodnotgoodnotgood'

Blurr looked from the humans to Optimus and back again-Curtis shook his head,he'd not understood a thing the blue bot had just said,and he wondered that if any of the others had been able to follow either. They had all fallen silent for a moment,so maybe they did?

'Hammershot? Interesting...'

Optimus stood up once again,his true thoughts were hidden from the others but what he had just learned from the humans confirmed some suspecions he had nagging at the back of his mind since all of this had started,maybe even before. Unfortunatly this didn't help their problem,infact it only compounded it further.

'Then we'll just have to drag Hammershot back here and the girl will have no choice then to come to us!'

Ironhide roared as if it were one of the better plans they'd had in a while,Optimus was almost inclined to agree but shook his head at the suggestion.

'For now we'll rest-Tommorrow is a new day'

'Damn. I didn't get to scrap some Decept-a-cr-'

'We all feel like that,Ironhide,but there's not much we can do right now'

'Speak for yourself'

Ameba smirked and shook her head,glancing to Curtis and where Amber had been,but now Curtis only stood alone. He didn't even seem to have noticed that Amber had left him.

'Um...Where'd Amber go?'

She asked,not spotting the girl anywhere in the room they were all in,thinking that maybe she was hiding by the feet of one of her comrades,but it didn't appear to be the case. Bumblebee suddenly perked up,cutting off his conversation with Jazz and wheeled around looking for Amber as well,he was the first to look like he was going to get into trouble for not keeping a better eye on the human.

"Wha?'

Curtis looked around,spinning once before shaking his head,he'd been too enthralled by the giant robots to notice anything else.

'She was just here'

Jazz began, however he was quickly thrown backwards as the whole base rumbled violently,causing some of the others to be thrown off balance as well.Curtis ran for cover as whoever he was standing near nearly fell ontop of him,and he didn't want to be road kill so soon after meeting giant robots.

'What was that!?'

Ameba asked,she'd fallen over where Pomperous had been sitting so she now sat in his lap,she flinched as she ignored the startled look on his face and tried to push herself off of him again.

'We're under attack!'

Ironhide declared,moving foreward as the base rocked again, he looked like he was enjoying the idea of finally being able to stomp some Decepticon tail.

'Underattackunderattack-attackattackattack-Optimus!'

Blurr began to look paniced, but Optimus was certain this wasn't an attack, he raised a hand to try to calm everyone down once again.

'Everyone just calm down, its not an attack, its not consistant enough. Whatever is causing this is coming from-'

A loud alarm filled the air,drowning out the rest of Optimus' sentence, it stopped as quickly as it had began to ring annoyingly throughout the air.There was a pause of silcene,Optimus was about to continue when Scout appeared at the door followed after by Prowl and Ratchet.

'Scout! Good to see you're feeling better,buddy'

'Where's Amber?'

He completely ignored the fact that Jazz was talking to him, the only thing that currently mattered was Amber, his gaze fell upon Bumblebee who was trying to hide behind Ironhide.

'I turned away from her for maybe two minutes-'

'That's too long!'

'What could she possibly do?'

'All this-'

Suddenly the sprinkler system started and everyone was soon soaked-Scout dropped his shoulders and sighed heavily.

'And that'

'I'm sorry but-'

'How can one human cause so much chaos'

Ironhide grumbled, moving aside as Scout walked past.

'Easy. She's too damn curious for her own good.'

'Scout?'

Ameba finally found her footing and pushed herself away from Pomperous, but she was ignored as Scout continued in the only other exit to the room.

'Where are you going?'

'To find Amber'

'We're coming too'

She grabbed Bumblebee's arm and began to drag him behind her-Curtis quickly followed after, not wanting to be far from the Yaris.

'Wha-Why are you dragging me along?'

'Because its your fault Amber's missing'

'No-'

'Well, then you can at least help Scout look for her'

'But its not my-'

'Bumblebee, Ameba's got alternative motives-'

'What!?'

Bumblebee looked horrified at what the alternative motives could possibly be. He glanced from Ameba and Scout,hoping that one of them would explain but was only greeted with Scout smirking darkly at his friend's fear.

'No,Scout,don't be jealous'

'Hardly'

'Liar'

Curtis was listening to the three robots with a strange expression,no he had no idea what they were talking about but he was not going to bring attention to himself incase it was something bad. He was still in a state of shock as well, he'd always liked giant robots and was amused that one had been under his nose all this time,it was rather amazing. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks,the laughing robots didn't even notice that he had come to a stop, but something had caught his attention. Watching as the robots disappeared around a corner,Curtis slowly moved towards what had caught his attention. At first it looked like a lump of rocks but as he moved closer he saw that it was eminating a small noise like it were sleeping. It was larger then him but smaller then the other robots-clearing his throat he paused,he thought that maybe it was a pet or something.

'Hey there-'

he was now right beside the strange creature,though it didn't seem to notice him yet.

'Hey...'

Placing his hand on the side of the creature, he smiled but that faded the instant it growled and began to move. Causing Curtis to pull away. Blinking a few times he realized that he wa now face to face with a robotic rhino.

'Whoa-What the...'

The rhino snorted angerly,sending Curtis' glasses scattering off of his face and somewhere on the ground,but he was not about to stick around to find them. Spinning on heel he ran as fast as he could.

'Help me!'

He yelled as he heard the rhino charging after him, he deffinatly didn't like this idea any more.

In the middle of a secluded lake not too far from the Autobot base:

Devon was sitting cross legged on the top of Grimlock's head,fishing poll in hand, the dinobot had the water up to his neck and seemed to be am;used by the fish gathering around him. Upon hearing a loud explosion followed by a very hot breeze,Devon looked around,sniffing the air and looking more curious then worried.

'Do you smell...burnt marshmellows?'

he lowered one brow before shrugging and returning to his fishing and waiting patiently for a fish to catch his line though he knew that it would never happen...


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Always blame someone el

Chapter 16: Always blame someone else.

Exausted and hungry,Holly kept herself from trembling by clenching her teeth tightly and keeping her arms crossed firmly over her chest,though she knew that she probably looked like she needed a restroom more,though the only one who would understand that would be Chris. Sure,she was terrified,who wouldn't? No matter what,having giant robots pissed off at you would be enough to cause even the strongest of people to rethink their sanity. She sighed inwardly,the waiting was killing her-she'd been pretty much ignored for now but that was only because Starscream hadn't arrived. Frenzy appeared momentarily,chattering in the language she couldn't understand,he stared at Chris for a while,perhaps thinking that he was Brian from earlier. Then deciding not to attack,he took off just as quickly as he had appeared. Barricade approached Beatdown,who was still standing guard near Holly-why she hadn't figured out and didn't think he would answer if she asked. She decided that it was probably because he had to report to Starscream or maybe it was to take the place of his fallen comrade...some how the latter didn't seem to sound right to her. Without Hammershot there,Holly did feel more vulendrable and squishable,she was certain none of the others would really stop anyone from harming her if they decided to do so.

'Were you followed?'

'No,I think you and Blackout caused enough trouble for the Autobots.'

'Hardly'

'Hmmm?'

'None of us managed to do any damage to any of them. Except perhaps scratch their paint.'

'I assume you had fun'

'I could have finished Prowl off...'

'But Starscream came and told you to take off?'

'If he hadn't stopped me'

'right,right. Use Starscream as the scapegoat-'

'I'm not'

'You are and you know it'

'Get back in line-Beatdown!'

Barricade growled,pulling rank with the Tundra but instead of letting it drop he swung one arm around,connecting with Beatdown and sending him stumbling back a few feet. Holly barely managed to dodge as one of Barricade's feet came crashing down right where she had been, yelping she stared at the reflective metal and looked horrified. The scream had caught Blackout's attention and he moved foreward,watching as the girl moved away from the towering giants and looking like she had just avoided being run over by a car.

'Enough Barricade, you almost killed the girl'

'What do you care,Blackout?'

"I don't. However, it'll be our lives if Lord Megatron finds out we killed the only person who-'

'Then we won't tell him.'

'Because that'll go over just as well'

Beatdown added,shoving Barricade back and walking away with a snort.

Holly straightened herself and looked to the one named Barricade who had nearly stepped on her,he was the police car from earlier that she had liked. She then tilted her head,who was Megatron and why hadn't she seen him before? Perhaps she would ask later, if she got the chance,if she ever got the chance. Blackout eyed Holly before shaking his head and turning away just as another entered the room, it was Starscream and his growling entrance showed that he was in no better of a mood then any of the others. He glared at all those in the room and they quickly left, as much as they wanted to stay around to see how this turned out, they didn't want to get dragged into it. Holly spun to look for Chris and began to feel even more disheartened as she saw that he too was exiting the room with Beatdown. He gave her a small reassuring smile but it didn't ease the feeling in her gut,and it looked more like he was snickering at her unfortunate but self inflicted situation. Taking in deep breaths,Holly slowly turned around when the last of the Decepticons had left-she saw that Starscream was glaring at her,silent and seeming to be mulling over something.

'What were you doing?'

Starscream growled,slowly approaching the girl, his voice was deathly calm. Surpressing the urge to shiver, Holly knew that Starscream was trying to scare her, but she also knew it would only fuel his ego if she showed any weakness in her stance. She may have been extremely stupid or brave to be standing there the way she was against the giant-but she had a point to be made.

'Well?'

'I had to go home for a few things'

She had to keep her voice from revealing her true feelings, so she spoke as evenly as possable,and hoped that her expression looked calm instead of freaked out.

'After all, if I'm going to be here for a while-'

'And you couldn't wait until later, when I could have accompanied you,Why?'

'You!?'

Holly snorted and lost her concintration,Starscream noted this and perhaps knowing that her fear was now sending more adreniline through her body then ever before she didn't care. She had found it rather funny, imagining how her parents would have reacted to her suddenly returning in a fighter Jet. Though she gussed that he probably ment that he would have accompanied both her and Hammershot,keeping an eye out from the sky. Starscream scowled,bending low and bringing his face close to her,growling though looking more curious then upset.

'Do you have a problem human?'

Trying not to smirk,she failed and though it was probably not the best idea she had,she felt a little more daring and glared back up at Starscream.

'Many actually, but first I want to know...'

Should she say it? She'd gone this far,she could easily cover up what she was going to say with something else. But before her mind had come up with a logical conclusion,her mouth had started up again.

'How can a fatso like you stand on those little chicken legs?'

Starscream's anger showed instantly as he moved back alittle,raising one arm up to strike her, and she knew it was coming though now she found that her body had seized up and wouldn't move as her brain yelled at her to do.

'Insolent Human-You're ignorance is you're death!'

No matter how he hit her,she knew that the initial strike would kill her instantly-or if she were lucky,shatter every bone in her body,suffering the long seconds that felt like hours until she hit the ground and died a more slower death. His hand was racing towards her and then everything seemed to begin to move in slow motion,she doubled over,covering her head with her hands and letting out a loud scream of fear.

'Fool!'

There was a rush of wind that blew past Holly,followed by Starscream's startled yell as he was punted in the head and thrown into the opposite wall. Confused and startled,Holly lowered her arms and looked around to find out what was going on. Looming over her,half doubled over in pain and looking pissed was a dark form,glaring at Starscream and not the girl he had just saved.

'Hammershot!'

Holly cried,tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she realized who had saved her, and that he wasn't dead like she had convinced herself for the better part of the day.

'Hammershot-you're alive!'

'I am?...Lucky me...'

He groaned sarcastically,keeping his gaze locked on the jet as Starscream pulled himself back to his feet and rounded on the Hummer.

'How dare you!'

'Starscream, you know better then this!'

'I should finish what Prime started!'

'Oh? I always knew you were too weak to take me on in a fair fight'

Starscream had enough of this and lept foreward,colliding with Hammershot and causing the pair of them to tumble over Holly,crashing to the ground several feet away. The noise instantly attracted the attention of the other decepticons-all curious to know why their acting commander and Hammershot were fighting.

'Holly-Whad did you do this time?'

Chris reappeared,giving his friend the 'This' your fault some how' look. Though technically it was,that was besides the point at the moment. Shaking her head,Holly tried to hide her tears from Chris before dashing over to him. He stared at her in silence for a long time,waiting for her to explain but she looked more like she were about to burst out in tears again. Beatdown quickly moved to put himself infront of the humans, knowing how bad a Decepticon brawl can turn without warning. He didn't care about Holly,but figured that Chris would be less willing to help him if she were to get hurt in this.

'Is that all you've got Starscream? Pathetic"

'I'll put you in you're place'

Two rounds shot from Starscream that were ment to hit Hammershot,missed and clipped Beatdown in the shoulder. Groaning he held his wound and glared at the two fighting like they were children fighting over a toy.

Starscream managed to grab Hammershot around the neck and using his wounds from Optimus against him, he then brought his fist and smashed it into Hammershot's side.Holly gave a loud scream before quickly covering her mouth and looking embarressed.

'He's the one who got hurt, why'd the human scream?'

A red and black bot asked as he approached the humans and Beatdown,he was smaller then most of the other Decepticons but large enough to still be feared,in other words he was not one of the Cassette bots that were running around.

'Because she 'LOVES' her Hummer'

Chris replied, smirking as he saw Holly's face brighten for a moment. She shok her head violently,hitting Chris in the face as her hair whipped about.

'Thanks...that was tasty'

'Its what you get for-'

'She's a bit of a spaz, isn't she?'

'I am not!"

She retaliated,stomping her foot into the ground and pouting,though she knew full well that she was. Beatdown finally pulled his gaze off of the fight and noticed they had company,he didn't seem to look happy either,probably because he didn't much like the little bot.

'What are you doing here,Warsprite?'

There was a pause before an answer came,

'Haha-missed!'

Hammershot yelled as he lept past and hit Starscream in the chest,sending them both into a wall. Warsprite shrugged and slowly began to look like he might give an answer,then stare at the fight before finally looking bored and answering the question that had been directed at him.

'Crusher and her human are ready to depart'

'hmmmm...'

Beatdown didn't glance back as an loud whistling noise zoomed past his head followed by an explosion,he already had decided to not get involved in that fight.

'Alright,I'll give them their instructions.Starscream is a tad...busy'

'Indeed. I don't know if he's having fun or actually trying to destroy Hammershot'

'Both.'

Beatdown then kneeled down and held his hands together for the humans to climb aboard. Holly looked confused,glancing to Hammershot who was currently on his back holding Starscream off then back to the offered ride.

'He'll be fine. Soundwave won't let those two go on for much longer.'

He reassured the girl,knowing that was probably what she was thinking. Chris climbed on and held out a hand to help Holly up as well-she nodded and took it,doing her best to not look worried despite the reassurance she had been given. Rolling his eyes,Chris moved away and sat down with a smirk.

'Sit'

'Wha-Hey-I'm not a dog"

She grumbled,thinking her friend was refurring to a running joke they had amongst their group. But as Beatdown stood up and began to move,Holly fell off balance,falling foreward and nearly to her death. She quickly sat down and looked defeated,ignoring the amused look Chris was giving her.

'Keh.'

'I'm not used to being held'

'Aw,poor Holly, her Hummer's never held her'

Again Holly's face pinkened,catching what Chris ment,but quickly she growled,crossing her arms over her chest and turning her head away with a 'humph' noise.

'Well...its not like we've really...You know what I mean!'

'hehe. suuuurrreeeee.'

The pair stared at each other for a few moments,both smirking at the other, they had always been like this-taking amusement in the other's ackward positions,though most of the time it was Chris who laughed at Holly. But in the end they both knew that it was a game, not to be taken any more serious then what they teased each other over.

'I still hate you'

'Yep'

Beatdown had been trying to ignore the humans as he walked but unfortunatly with nothing to take his focuse off of them,it was impossible,and gave an inward groan,he really doubted that any good was going to come from having the girl around. Especially if she were around her friend for extended periods of time.

It wasn't long before they reached the large aerial hanger,though it was currently empty,it was built large enough to hold eight to ten planes and more if they were to transform.

'Where's Starscream?'

Crusher asked the moment she saw Warsprite return with Beatdown, she moved out of the shadows and looked annoyed that the wrong person had been brought.

'He's dealing with something else right now'

Warsprite laughed,amused at what he had seen and looking lornforne for being able to fight the commander,though he was far to small and would easily be over powered.Beatdown however came to a stop and looked just as unimpressed as the female did.

'How are we sappoused to move foreward with our mission when he-'

'Liane!?'

Holly sat up,peering around one of Beatdown's fingers when she realized she knew the voice speaking-Liane looked just as shocked to see Holly there,her frown wavered as she looked like she almost wanted to wave to her old friend but then it deepened. She then returned to her rigid dark look she had been giving Beatdown,now ignoring her former friend.

'I assume you've entered the Airshow?'

'Of course!'

'Good. Then in three days time we'll meet again'

'While the Autobots think the airshow is our main objective-'

Warsprite chuckled,grinning so wide that his visor creeked like it might fall off the hinges it sat on.

'We'll be leaving the city only to return with-'

There was a pause,the sounds of the fight no longer broke the air,the three Decepticons nodded,finishing the sentence silently. Leaving Chris and Holly to ponder what was really going on,though they knew that someone would fill them in within the next seventy-two hours.

(Please Note : Starscream is in his '07 movie form,tis why Holly called him fat with chicken legs,incase some of you were confused.)


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Airshow Dist part 1

Chapter 17: Airshow distraction Pt.1

Three days quickly passed-in the Autobot base, the humans had been fully filled in and despite their rocky start,Amber had began to warm up to some of them. The firey explosion and other mysterious happens that had occuried those days previous were never offically blamed upon her,but everyone knew that she had been the cause of them. Luckily the mountain was far enough that no wandering eyes might spy a slight distortion in the mountain and the humans said that the fire was caused by lightening,which was what they always said when they didn't know the true cause of something.

Curtis had also learned his lesson,to never wake sleeping cassette-bots,more so,to stay away from Ramhorn no matter what the reasonings may be.

While Amber spent most of her time with Scout,who'd taken her on one of his more laid back missions-he was still not sure if he could trust the others to keep a good eye on the girl while he was gone,though sometimes it would be inevitable that he would have to leave her behind. Ameba and Curtis had returned home as to not draw any unnessary attention upon themselves,not with the strange group of men in unmarked vehicles around,and for now all they could hope was that the humans would give up and leave soon as unlikely as that was. And in the three days it hadn't taken Amber long to discover that Pomperous was Brian's silver Subaru,but she had yet to actually run into Brian,she wanted to talk to him and it seemed like they either missed each other or he was avoiding her. Sure,it was fine having her friends around,but they never were around and Amber was lonely being stuck so far from town with the only company being giant robots that couldn't relate to her. Curtis' calling three times a day and trying to convince her to trade places with him wasn't helping either,it was annoying Blaster and any other Autobot that may be around at the time.

Besides that,Optimus had told them both several times that for now it was too dangerous for Amber to suddenly return home,not only were the Decepticons a threat but the men in unmarked vehicles as well. It was not a risk Optimus was willing to take-and his concern was only cemented further when the news of how the humans explained the sudden attacks within the city,-"Technical difficulties with some movie props,those who have had damages due to this have been repaid in full for their loses". What organization had the power AND money to so easily cover up the truth? It was possible it was the Government-Military but somehow even that was doubtful and didn't seem to be in the fashion those two factions would move,the unknown group probably had the Government and Military in their back pockets.

Optimus wanted to lay low and it was working but the problem that now settled upon the Autobots,causing tension to build even more was for the past three days there had not been word or sight of any Decepticon movement,like they had all up and disappared. It wasn't the unmarked humans doing,but what could the Decepticons be up to for them to not even send out a patrol,it was very unnerving. Something was coming...something bad...

'So...what do you think?"

Amber asked lazily,shifting her arm across the smooth yellow surface she laid across,staring at the calm blue sky.

'Hmmm? About what?'

Bumblebee sounded tired or the very least bored out of his mind, he'd been 'babysitting' Amber for too long in his opinion,he'd lost track of time all together.

'Barbies and G.I Joes. What do you think!? The Decepticons'

'Oh. Them'

He deffinatly didn't sound impressed with the thought of the Decepticons, at least Amber was starting to talk again, she'd been silent for over two hours which was about the time Bumblebee had stopped counting how long they'd been sitting at the small creek behind the base.

'I think They're going to launch a major assault...they'll be feeling cocky and full of themselves, I'm sure they'll want to rub it in your face...'

Amber continued on not allowing Bumblebee the chance to speak.

'Or maybe they found whatever it is they need Holly...but that wouldn't make sense...we'd probably be dead already'

She was now talking aloud but not really to Bumblebee,who sighed and wanted to do something else other then sit there like toads,he needed to get moving or something.

'Maybe we can...I wonder if Blaster will...that might work...but I doubt the way I want it to'

'Amber...Hey Amber!'

Curtis' sudden bellowing voice broke Amber's concintration on her half thoughts,frowning she was too lazy to move or glare at her friend for interrupting her quiet time, but he wasn't quiet as he made his way down the slope to where they sat.

'Amber...C'mon!'

He beemed as he slid a little before slamming his hands into Bumblebee's hood,rather roughly.

'Hey!'

'sorry Bee, C'mon lets go!'

'Where are you tryin to drag us? It better not be someplace boring...like a hall of horror movie villians'

'NO...why do you want to go?'

'No.'

'right. But its going to full of pretty planes...'

Curtis grinned as he grabbed Amber by the arm and tried to pull her away from Bumblebee,however,the mension of an airshow Bumblebee's interest in the conversation perked once again. Amber sat up,but remained on the car,she had a torn expression on her face-she hadn't been to an airshow in over five years but she also knew that it was all too suspecious and that the Decepticons would probably be drawn to the show,but if they were...

'So,you want to drag Amber and I off to some Airshow?'

'Yeps'

'Why?'

'C'mon,Bee, you'll love it! there's lots of cars and jets. OH! and apparently there's going to be a new act this year'

Amber hopped off of Bumblebee and looked as if she were seriously debating something as she wandered away a few feet before stopping and turning back as if she had thought of a plan.

'What is it with you two...The Decepticons won't attack...'

'You're wrong. This is the perfect cover for them to make their move'

Bumblebee replied darkly,he didn't like the idea of being dragged off to some place he didn't know with the high chance they would be attacked.

'But we don't even know what it is they're up to. wouldn't this be a good chance to find ou-'

Curtis began trying desperately to make his point and make logical sense to the pair who were being very difficult,he went to say how he found them very similar when he heard the sound of something walking up behind him,deciding to not speak his mind,he turned to see Ameba standing there now. Her arms crossed over her chest and her head was tilted to one side,she smiled kindly at the group,letting a small chuckle eminate before she spoke.

'That's why I'm going.'

She shifted her weight and smirked,looking directly at Bumblebee now

'Am I going to have to be the one to protect hundreds of humans,keep an eye on these two AND take on the entire Decepticon army? Geez, Bumblebee...'

'What!? Are you implying something?'

'Nopes...you've said it all'

Ameba giggled and turned away,she knew that her trick had worked,Bumblebee would surely follow now-though she had no idea what would happen once they got to the airshow.

Curtis smiled widely and looked to Amber with the same 'so?' sort of expression that had been on Ameba's face moments earlier-rolling her eyes,Amber sighed deeply,she had to let go of all the reasoning in her mind and just let this happen,perhaps it would come out for the better? She didn't know but in a strange way,she hoped to see the Decepticons...maybe she could then find out what happened to her friend.

'Well...'

'OKay! You win,Curtis!'

Amber sounded upset but she had a large grin on her face and turned to Bumblebee,who threw open one of his doors for her to climb in.

'Lead the way'

'How's your foot?'

Chris asked with mild interest,he had a job to do,they all did and he had to keep an eye open for any sign of suspecious behavior in either vehicles or people,otherwise known as Autobots or Enemies. Ali stuck her healing foot out, a cast pressed tightly around it and she growled like it was some horrid creature sucking the life right out of her second by second.

'Can't feel it-but i can still kill people with it'

She replied,swining it towards Chris who managed to avoid getting hit with the foot.

'Too slow'

'I'll show you the meaning of slow!'

Again she moved to chase after Chris but he dodged again and dashed away laughing-disappearing around the large black helicopter that sat on display near where they were sitting, they knew it was Blackout and he was not impressed with all the humans swarming around him gawking at him. Grumbling,Ali limped back over to the tank she had been leaning against,Overkill was amused by the whole idea of how easy this whole plan was to get away with,humans were incredibly stupid. Sitting on his wheel was a blonde haired woman,growling darkly as she glared out across the field were some of the jets were sitting far from access of the public and only the pilots could wander. She wore a dark blue flight suit and in her hands was a large black helmet,she didn't need it yet but kept it close like a security blanket.

'We have a mission to fullfill,don't go chasing after Chris and screwing us over,Ali'

Liane growled without looking to the red head,Ali stopped in her tracks and looked like she might chew off the other woman's head but a wicked grin spread across her face instead.

'I know that. Its YOU who should worry about screwing up. Can you act well Liane?'

'Pft.'

'Oh...OH...Are you jealous?'

'What...of who? You? Hardly.'

'No'

Liane finally turned her icy eyes on Ali and glared at her,they both knew exactly who was being referred to and both knew that Liane was a little miffed.

'She's never flown anything in her life,and she gets to fly around during the show? Its not fair. I should be the one-'

'You want to be used as a meat shield? That's the only reason she's going to be up there. Is if the Auto-junks show up...which I hope they do...I wanna blow something up'

Liane paused for a moment,she too wanted to blow something up,but she couldn't...not even if the oppertunity arose.

'I should be part of the show-'

'But I thought you were. Is it not you and Crusher who get the glorious crash scene in the end-giving the Seekers a chance to-'

'We're in the air for not even two whole minutes. wow'

'so?'

'She's up there doing tricks and-'

'You do know its Not her piloting right? That they've pretty much given her no option.'

'yea yea. And what if they don't show up?'

Liane was referring now to the Autobots,but they all knew that this was more then enough to cause at least one of them to be sent to monitor the show. Lowering her head,a twisted look appeared on Ali's face,one that had only been seen by a few to tell about it,it was not a nice one nor did you want it directed at you.

'Oh...they will...They will...'

Liane stared at Ali for the longest time like she thought she had gone completely mad, then growled once before pushing herself off her perch and storming off to find someone more sympathetic to her. This was a blessing for Ali,who laughed and leaned back a little, she side glanced Blackout,he was currently being touched by little kids grubby fingers,and she had to wonder just how much more of this he was able to take. Overkill spoke,though it was lighter then his normal tone,anyone paying attention probably would have only thought it was someone hidden from view speaking.

'Liane is a jealous woman. And you? Would you like to be up in the sky tonight?'

'Hell no! I like my feet firmly under me on the ground'

'Sensable'

'No, I just don't want to die making a fool out of myself'

Ali replied through gritted teeth,the conversation quickly came to an end as she waltzed away. A group of older men swarmed around the 'relic' and quickly began to retell old war stories from their youth,Overkill didn't mind this,he took the old human stories of war in with interest,though they seemed to leave out some of the more violent details that always was connected with wars.

Ali,had time to kill and before she was sappoused to meet up with Holly,so to keep herself from killing any one,she walked over to the none-living jets and decided to poke around inside of them for kicks.

"WHAT!?"

Bumblebee exclaimed loudly as he discovered that he and Ameba would be parked in a muddy field,cramped by other stinky vehicles, as far from the actual air show as it seemed possible. Amber giggled,finding his reaction cute but quickly calmed herself and went to exit when the locks snapped down.

'Bad car!'

'I'm sappoused to keep you in sight at all times'

'Bah'

'If anything happened to you,Scout would kill me'

Again Amber giggled,Bumblebee sounded really worried that his friend would actually hurt him if anything should go wrong involving Amber.

'Nah, He'll just rip your arm off and beat you with it'

'What?'

Bumblebee had obviously had some sort of talk with Scout earlier,otherwise he normally would have laughed that comment off.

'Baby-'

'Am not'

'You sure acting like one'

'Hey! Hurry up!'

Curtis ran into the side of the Camaro and plastered his face across the window,looking like he was having problems breathing as his eyes began to water slightly.

'Does he HAVE to do that?'

'No. But he won't stop unless you let me out'

Curtis,face still plastered against the window was now doing his very best to impersonate some sort of fish leech creature,it was hard to tell what he was doing really. The car gave a shiver,Bumblebee unlocked his doors and threw open the one Curtis was pressed against-forcing the human to fall to the ground and laugh like he had been on the worlds greatest ride. Jumping out of the Camaro before he changed his mind,Amber moved aside as a large dirty white Suv type truck pulled in tightly beside them and completely boxing Bumblebee in.Some mud from the previous night's rain splashed up and covered the whole side of the Camaro,again there seemed to be a strange shiver from the yellow car.

'Hey,Curtis. Where's your Yaris?'

'Over there! We've got loads of space around us'

'Shut up!'

Bumblebee grumbled,not even noticing the strange look he just recieved from the family that exited the suv, they just assumed there was some random person around the cars that they couldn't see and went back to being excited over the air show.Curtis sprang back to his feet and without looking like he moved,grabbed Amber's wrist,pulling her in the direction the family had disappeared in.

Later Bumblebee!'

He called back to the car,waving with his free hand as well-the pair disappeared out of sight almost instantly.

'I have a bad feeling about this-'

Bumblebee sighed inwardly,feeling uncomfortable but it was more his worry over what might happen then being surrounded by the dirty,smelly cars with the only other company he could talk to being too far away.

It was a jungle of bodies,Curtis could barely hang onto Amber as they moved from one jet to another,the crowds were thickening and most of them ranged between children of five to older grandfather aged men. All the jets they passed were impressive,some had people telling of the adventures a jet had been through,others would allow people to actually sit inside or wander around the cargo bay of larger ones. The two now stood infront of a large black helicopter,behind it some feet was an old looking tank,Curtis wasn't impressed that the helicopter was one of the few people couldn't look around the inside-Amber however glanced around nervously,she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. And she knew better,they were being watched but she wished she knew by whom and where they were hiding,for all she knew the large helicopter infront of them was the one watching them,or even the old tank.

'You alrigh?'

Curtis asked,though that wasn't his intended question,the pair fell silent and both knew the other felt odd as well.Amber nodded,though she looked like she might get sick to her stomach at any moment.She didn't want to risk saying the wrong words incase one of the nearby vehicles were a Decepticon.

'You look hungry. let's go find some food'

He quickly covered as he pulled Amber back the way they had just come, acting as normal as his body would let him given the circumstances and he had no resistance from Amber. For a moment he thought that perhaps she had slipped away and he was dragging some other poor woman around,but glancing back he saw it was still Amber.

'Seriously. When was the last time you ate?'

'I...why?'

Curtis finally came to a stop,there was an F-16 on either side of the,but for now nothing else seemed to exist as Curtis stared intensly at Amber.

'Because you're shaking. And its not from all the jets,or people, or anything'

'I'm fine'

'NO, you're not'

Amber looked to her hands,she hadn't noticed until then but she was shaking and it wasn't just a little,it was quite bad. She hadn't let herself realize that she hadn't eaten any food in the past three days,just random junk she had in her bag and that was running low,though the warm weather and her constant thinking hadn't been helping her condition either.

'I'm tired. When's the main event?'

She asked,checking her watch and trying to change the subject,not wanting to be on it any more and knowing that given the state of things,she would likely become irritable if Curtis didn't chose his words correctly.

'Not for another half an hour'

'Oh'

Now she could fell her body shaking, she needed to sit down or her legs would give out under her,she also needed to catch up on her sleep-she was literally on the brink of a physical breakdown and she hadn't noticed until forced to.

'You go sit over in that field,I'm going to get us some food'

Curtis pointed to the large grassy field which was already filling up with people hoping to get a comfy spot to sit to watch the show, Amber growled before she poked her friend.

'Thanks'

'for what'

'For reminding my body it needs things'

'sorry'

'You should be'

The pair fell silent again,taking the chance,Amber scanned the sea of people to see if she reconized anyone in the masses. She was more hoping to catch a glimpse of Holly,but kept telling herself that it was doubtful,after all,the Decepticons wouldn't be that stupid to let her walk around openly...unless she was bait...

'I'm going to sit over there.'

'Okay, I'll go get the food'

Curtis dashed off with the promise to pick out something Amber would like-She was only half paying attention as she slowly made her way towards the spot she had chosen,still looking around for anyone by this point. There! her heart jumped as she came to a dead stop-walking straight towards her was Chris! She doubted he would stop to talk to her,if he acknowledged her at all, he did seem preoccupied with his cellphone. Though it was a slim to null chance-Holly may have been in contact with him, and Amber wanted to know,but she didn't want to approach Chris.As he began to pass her,she forced a smile and reached out her hand to grab him by his shoulder,

'Stupid phone-who's trying to call me,its probably Brent'

He muttered as he glared down at the small device in his hand,ignoring everything around him,or appearing to at least. Amber quickly pulled her hand back and held it to her chest,watching him disappear back into the mass of people. No,she didn't think he knew about Holly and Amber figured that she would probably only confuse and annoy him if she asked,he looked fed up with his phone already.

Though,it was odd to see Chris so upset,also to see him on his own for he rarely went to major events on his own-what fun would that be...She wanted to find out who he was with,but her body wouldn't listen to her,instead she lowered her hand back to her side and looked to the sky as a large silver and blue jet rumbled over,leaving a thick trail of smoke.


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Airshow Dist part 2

Chapter 18: Airshow Distraction Pt. 2

There was nothing wrong with his phone,but he still couldn't understand what was 'Wrong' with it-someone had to have been trying to call him from a low service area. Still,it made no sense,all those who even had his new cell phone number were all at the airshow and would hunt him down before calling his cell,more out of boredom then the risk of someone picking up their conversation. Growing annoyed with the phone,he pulled the battery out of the back decided to give it to Beatdown to look over,maybe he'd be able to tell Chris what was wrong,or even if it was fixable.At any rate,he had to head back or surely someone would give him hell,most likely Ali,even though she should be over by the others by this point anyways. Shoving his cell deep into his pockets,Chris looked around to only find that he was at the far end of the grounds near the parking and main exit. Great...It was hot and even more crowded now and on top of all that he was sappoused to meet up with one of the Decepticons,he could careless about who,they were all the same to him. As he walked with no real hurry, the conversation the night previous between Beatdown and Holly ran past his thoughts-

'Amber.Ambers the only person I know who has had any contact with the Autobots'

Holly said with a deffinate note in her voice,she had taken a slightly assertive stance while speaking to the truck,though that was not surprising in the least.

'Are you certain?'

'Yes. Her car fought Hammershot on the first night'

'No. About your friends'

Beatdown was watching the human carefully,as if testing her and Holly knew this,she narrowed her eyes.

'Why? Are you all still under the impression I'm LYING to you or something?'

'You are human after all, your kind values the trust put in friendship'

'TRUST!? I Trust no one'

'Really? That's interesting'

'...If I have to betray my friends to prove my loyalty to you...so be it'

And it had been at that point the conversation had switched back to going over the plan.

Bringing his mind back to the present,Chris chortled darkly,he knew Holly better then anyone,even her precious Hammershot-He knew the truth and lies behind most of her words. Betraying was one thing but when it came right down to actually hurting anyone she cared about...well,that would be the day,he smirked. Pulling his gaze off the ground,he looked around and saw he was near the center of the grounds and was surprised to see most of the people here were spaced out other then grouped together near the ends of the grounds. He was almost disappointed to almost be where he had,suddenly his cell began to ring-despite the fact he had pulled the battery away from the phone. He came to an abrupt hault and glared down at his pocket,what the hell was going on? He quickly pulled his phone out of the pocket,staring at it as it sat in one hand and the battery in the other,still ringing happily...this was not possible,and made no sense at all. What could be causing the phone to react like this? Could it be some sort of residual effect caused by all the machines in the area...no,even that shouldn't be causing the phone to freak out as it were.

'Hey Chris!'

A familiar female voice chirped cheerily in his left ear,scowling he turned to face the owner of the voice,he was in no mood to deal with anyone and they would only slow him down.

'whoa-What crapped in your cereal?'

Maryann laughed as she jabbed Chris in the ribs,trying to inflict pain upon him as he doubled over and had been too slow to react in time.

'Oof-hey'

He shoved the phone in Maryann's face,causing her to take a step back and push his hands away.

'My phone's broken.'

'What happened?'

'I was pulling it out when some jerk smashed into the back of me'

Chris lied as if it were natural,and it sounded plausable especially in this crowd so he had no reason to think that his friend would find that odd at all.

'haha'

'now if only I could...'

'um...Chris...'

Maryann was staring at the phone,again it was ringing,even though she saw that the phone was in two.

'That's how I know its broken. Its been ringing like this constantly'

'Like its stuck on self call?'

'Exactly,if it were even possible.'

'but the battery...I..your phone is possessed!'

'I think so'

Maryann smirked but was also trying to make some sense of what she was witnessing,if she had heard about it she would probably not have believed it had happened. She was drawing a blank and was about to make a witty remark when her phone began to sing in her black trench pocket...one of them...she seemed to have forgotten which pocket she had slipped the phone in.

'Hang on'

She quickly found the phone,and pulled it out,expecting it to be one of her other friends though she didn't reconize the ring tone and was certain she didn't have it on her phone but that was something not important. Moments later the air was shattered by the various tunes of every cell phone in the area ringing like mad, this caused everyone to stop and make a collective 'What the hell' sort of noise. Everyone looked to their neighbours as if expecting an explination or thinking it was some sort of joke,some looked scared while others pissed off and others groaning as they were getting headaches from the sound. Scowling like a woman bent on death,Maryann flipped open her phone and put it to her ear,ready to chew out the person who had dared to call her-

'Hello?'

'Git down! You Fool!'

Ameba had her arms wrapped around Bumblebee as he desperately struggled to free himself from under the female. The pair were completely blocked from view by large neighbouring buildings, not that they would even have been spotted given the sudden confusion amongst the people in the air show grounds.

'Let go!'

'No!'

'The Decept-'

'We don't know that!'

'What else could do something like this? A human transmitter? I don't think they have one that strong'

'We don't even know what it is! For all we know,its some sort of backlash effect caused by US!'

'What? That's stupid. Get off of-'

Ameba growled at her rash friend,not only had Bumblebee been the reason she lost her nice spot in the field made parkinglot but now he was jumping to conclusions. She released him just enough that she could hit him in the back of the head to quiet him,at least for a few minutes.

'Calm down!'

'OUCH!'

Bumblebee grumbled,finally stopping and looking hurt that he had been hit-Ameba felt safe getting off and releasing her grip around him.

'We need to think things through,our first course of action should be to contact Op-'

'Geez Ameba,could you be any more Prowl-like?'

'Excuse me?'

Ameba rolled back onto her rump and looked like Bumblebee had just called her the most insulting name ever.

'We have to be ready to act fast,the Decepticons aren't going to hang around for Optimus and the others to get here'

'FINE! YOU can go get yourself killed!'

'Wha-'

Before anything else could be said,Ameba transformed and sped past Bumblebee without slowing down as she disappeared around the buildings.

'Ameba! Ameba wait!'

He called, looking like he wanted to chase after her but slid back,slumping against the closest building. He was confused,what had he said to cause her to get so upset with him? He was only trying to make her see that if they waited for the reinforcements it would be too late to help the humans,but she seemed to have gotten offended by something...

Amber munched down on an orange popsicle as she and Curtis sat in the large field waiting for the main event to start. Three black jets flew over,coming in for a landing after finishing a half an hour performance, the crowd cheered and supported the pilots as best they could. The cell phone event of minutes earlier was quickly forgotten as everyone figured it was something to do with the jets interferring with the signals, now they just wanted to sit and relax while watching even more jets entertain them.

'Today's been awsome'

Curtis replied as he finished the last of his corndog and glanced over to Amber,who looked not to be enjoying herself as much as he had hoped she would. Half of the reason he wanted to bring her out was so that she could get away from the Autobot base and just relax to have a good time without worring about the robots.That...wasn't exactly happening.

'yea'

What?'

'Aaaaaamber'

Curtis leaned over and poked Amber in the side,she gave a small yelp and jumped a little, turning her attention to her friend who seemed to be more interested in the jets then the fact that they were wide open to any attack and any help was at least two minutes away.

'Mew'

'What's up,Amber?'

'nothing'

'Don't lie to me'

'I'm not'

Amber smirked widely as she bit into her icy treat-which Curtis had bought her.

'LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! TO BETTER YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE,PLEASE DIRECT YOUR EYES TO THE SKY...WE STILL HAVE A FEW MINUTES LEFT BEFORE OUR MAIN EVEN BUT LET US ENTERTAIN YOU WITH THE DARING AERIAL STUNTS OF THE WELCOMED NEW TEAM,'THE SIZZLING DEADLY SINS'!''

The Announcer was almost as loud as the music that blared out of the speakers the moment he had finished speaking. Amber and Curtis both side glanced each other,both groaning at the lame name but at the same time had a look in their eyes like they were suspecious of the new team. Slowly,one by one the jets on the runway began to que up and take off, the first one being an orange and yellow one.

'Okay,she looks like some sort of crazy fuzzy...thing...'

'I do not!'

'I don't care!'

Ali growled as she watched Holly argue with the black and purple jet,while the others were leaving,they were second to last but if Holly didn't get inside the cockpit soon they would slow down the whole plan. Apparently her orange flight suit didn't sit well with Skywarp,who was poking fun of the human and seemingly forgetting that they were sappoused to be doing something else. Being ignored,Ali growled again,not wanting to get in trouble because of these two being too stubborn to admit defeat.

'Get in there NOW!'

Ali declared,shoving Holly foreward without attempting to hold back her frusteration. There was a sound of protest from Holly but Ali's fowl mood was more then enough to drown it out.

'Fine! There,happy'

Holly ripped the flight jacket off,revealing a white tank underneath, she then dropped it and climbed up the ladder,pulling herself into the cockpit like she had done this a hundred times before. And not a moment too soon as for the moment she had sat down the jet took off up the runway,causing her to full back and almost out before she had managed to close the top over her.

'Hey!'

'Oop...I'm sorry'

Skywarp replied with a snort,none of the meaning was behind his words as he left the ground behind within seconds. Holly really didn't care,at least he wasn't Starscream,she really would have had a problem then, but had found that she actually did like Skywarp and his felow Seekers,they were amusing. Glancing out the side window,Holly looked down at the darkening sea of bodies,somewhere down there was her friends and even maybe her family. They were a good thousand feet or so in the air,and normally this would have been no problem for Holly but she had not had the chance to practise with the jets so it was all new and she felt a little dizzy.

'Oh...Shsss'

'What!?'

Holly's attention was quickly brought back to her surroundings,she expected to see an attack heading towards them,but only saw the twilight sky.

'Skywarp,what is it...Skywarp?'

Why wasn't he answering her? HAD something gone wrong? Did she forget a vital part of the plan? She didn't see Liane or Crusher in the air,her eyes then flickered to the windows then the ground below,she was beginning to feel more then a little nervous.

'Sky...Warp...'

Suddenly there was a violent shudder and Holly instantly felt disoriented-They were going down! Falling backwards out of control at a speed too fast for even the best pilots to pull out of.

'SKYWARP!!!'

The crowd gasped in horror as in the middle of a roll one of the jets began to plummet towards the earth below. The air was deadly silent as no one knew if this were part of the show or not-could they be witnessing the last moments of a pilot's life? Everyone watched,unable to pull their eyes away from the potentially devastating scene, it didn't even seem possible for the jet to be able to save itself at this point. Freefalling upside down,tumbling over and over,it was impossible! Several people screamed in horror,children cried in fear and even the loud music had come to a stop.

Then...only feet away from impact,the jet roared to life once more,blasting towards the crowd and spinning like a cyclone,climbing to gain altitude once again.

'WHAT A PERFORMANCE!'

Yelled the announcer as the jet burst over the crowd,now high over them but low enough for the nasty fumes of its afterburn to waft down to the humans.

'That...Jet...'

Curtis began as he watched it disappear into the darkening sky, Amber watched him with questions in her eyes but she was certain that she already knew.

'That jet shouldn't have been able to pull that stunt off in time'

'Its a Decepticon'

'We should probably head back to Ameba and Bumblebee.'

Curtis sprang to his feet and began to move off but paused when he noticed that Amber was still sitting there.

'Aren't you coming?'

'no'

'No?'

This answer confused Curtis,he looked at Amber for a moment trying to decide if she was being stubborn or had fallen into a slightly bad mood.

'They probably already suspect me, but don't know you. If they see us leaving together'

Amber explained as she answered her friend's unspoken question,this seemed to make some sort of sense,though if the Decepticons had been there all along they could have already seen them together.

'Ah...um...Alright...I'll see you later then'

Curtis looked hesitant as he took off, he hoped that Ameba was aware of what was going on,or at least ready to deal with what had just happened. He knew they would need back up as for all he could see there were at least four flying Decepticons and with an aerial advantage they would likely lose this battle.

'WHAT'S THIS?'

The announcer's confusion caused Curtis to stop and look over his shoulder,not sure what he expected to see but it probably wasn't good. In the sky there was a new jet,it was hard to make out and the only way anyone could tell it was a different model from the F-15's was its angler shape. The other jets began to shoot at it, managing to keep pace with the new jet and even circle around it.

'The hell'

Again some of the crowd thougt this to be part of the show,ignorant of the fact that they were all in danger of being struck by stray bullets. The Stealth flew over the crowd and banked up at an unnatural angle,it became apparent to a few that this was no show and that the F-15's were actually trying to shoot the Stealth down.

'THAT STEALTH BOMBER SEEMS TO BE HAVING A HARD TIME SHAKING THE F-15'S.'

Came the obvious statement from the announcer,he sounded like he knew that it wasn't a show but was trying to keep the masses calm and avert having a panic and people getting hurt.

Amber had jumped to her feet,she kept an eye on the Stealth as it spiraled through clouds only to be followed by the the Decepticon jets,she didn't know what was going on or why they were after that one jet but she no longer felt like trying to keep herself in the open,nor did she want to run towards any of the desplay jets,just incase...

'I could take these humans out in one shot!'

laughed Sunstorm as he looked down upon the gathered humans who were still too stunned to understand that they may become the next target of the jets. Or even get crushed by a crashing jet,it was quite sad in his opinion.

'We all could,but stick to the plan,Skywarp's stunt already cost us-'

'Just making sure you were awake up here,Thunder-'

The three fell silent as the Stealth broke through their formation,they quickly turned around and took turns shooting at their 'target'-Crusher was doing her best to look like she was actually trying to flee from the attacking jets,but this was only annoying Liane.

'Is that the best you three can do? Together!?'

Came Liane's dark taunt over the coms,she wanted a real show if she was going to go down,she wanted it to be as real as possible.

'Fine...have it your way...'

Sunstorm pulled away from the others,disappearing innto a large cloud-the other two did the same, all moving in different directions. Liane smirked,hoping that whatever they were planning it would be good, she wanted some fun.

'They better do this right'

she growled, Crusher on the other hand remaind silent,she was beginning to wonder about the girl-ever since they arrived,Liane had been acting more murderous then useual,how they were going to pull off an act like they were was beyond her. There was complete silence in the air before Crusher gave a sudden yelp of surprise. Landing ontop of her was Sunstorm who pressed his gun against her hull-at the same time Thundercracker and Skywarp manuvered so that she couldn't break away and throw Sunstorm off. Their formation was a hard one to shake,with one of them transformed and the others so close,the only way to break free was to dive straight into a nosedive.

'You asked for it'

Sunstorm chuckled,sending several rounds straight into Crusher,who screamed in pain-this was no act,it was an attack! Crusher could feel herself losing control of her functions,she could barely keep herself airborne, she had to get to the ground or lower so that when she lost total control she didn't injure herself or Liane that much. With a grunt she dove straight down,feeling that she had been ambushed by those she had once concidered close to friends.

With their job done,the Seekers took back to the sky,Sunstorm transforming again and laughing as he thought what they had just done was the best thing ever-now all they had to do was wait.

No one really believed what they saw as the Stealth hit the ground like a rock,they had all assumed it was a show,they had only seen the two under the Stealth and thus hadn't seen the robot with the gun,but they assumed it was going to end well. Several people began to dash towards the spot the Stealth had landed in hopes to pull the pilot to safety if they were even still alive. A wall of fire errupted from a small rut that ran through the field,cutting any assisstance to the jet off from the humans. Smoke bellowed from the Stealth,its engines still roaring as it laid upside down in the upturned dirt and grass. A group of small white firetrucks barrelled towards the fire,several people tried to flag down the drivers,thinking that there would be an explosion but none of the trucks stopped,they were moving as if the fire and threat of being blown sky high was a common occurance and that they were used to it,but no one really thought much of it and if they were to take a closer look they would have noticed that there didn't appear to be any humans driving the small trucks...


	20. Chapter Nineteen: New Allies,Old Enemies

Chapter 19: New Allies, Old Enemies

'Amber! Amber! Where'd you go!?'

Curtis pushed his way through the fleeing crowd, he'd gotten seperated from his friend shortly after the realization and panic set in amongst the people. He didn't know if she had used the oppertunity to run off on her own or if she was looking for him as well-with all the chaos going on it wouldn't be hard for someone to get hurt. He glanced around, but couldn't see anything that looked familiar around him-where was he? It took him a moment to try and catch his barrings,

'Amber! Ameba?'

He called out again, but it was in vain, he got no answer and even if he did he probably wouldn't have heard it over the shouts and cries of the other people all trying to get to their vehicles and away from the airport. Something nearby exploded, which sent debris hurtling into the air,-the crowd moved faster, breaking up groups of friends and families who would then turn around and attempt to find their lost ones, making the whole mass more contorted and packed. Curtis was already having a hard time moving upstream of the crowd as it was when this had happened, he had nearly been knocked off his feet, but managed to tumble to one side where there weren't any panicing people.

'Amb-'

'Waah-Mommy-Where are you!?'

The loud crying behind him cut Curtis off, he stopped and looked over his shoulder,at least now he could stay stationary and was able to get a better look of the things around him and realized that he was near the black helicopter he'd wanted to wander through earlier that evening. He spotted the child,a young girl had climbed ontop of the old WorldWar 2 tank, she probably wasn't any older then six or seven, but at least she was safe from being crushed by the crowd. Unfortunatly it seemed the girl had lost her mother, who was probably somewhere in the mass desperately trying to push her way back into the show grounds. Moving as quickly as he could without a second thought,Curtis made his way towards the scared child-she was so scared, he didn't even know if she would listen to him or if he would make her worse but he couldn't turn his back on her,not with all that was going on around them.

'Hang in there-'

He smiled as he managed to reach the tank without running into any trouble, he then pulled himself up the side of it and up so that he was leaning against the cannon,the girl had yet to notice him in her sobbing.

'Its alright,everything's going to okay'

'I want my MOMMY!'

The girl wailed,wrapping her arms around her chest and cowering,Curtis wanted to give her a hug but knew better,he took a glance around but it was too hard to tell what was going on with the people,without knowing who he was looking for he couldn't chase anyone down.

'Well, how about you tell me what your mommy looks like'

The girl sniffed,looking up but remained silent, she didn't look as scared as she had on her own but seemed more leery that she had company that she didn't reconize.

'Mommy said never speak to strangers'

'That's very wise of your mom. I tell my son the same thing'

'You're a daddy?'

'Yep. My name's Curtis...and I promise you,on my life,nothings going to happen to you or your mom'

'What about Sam?'

'Who's Sam?'

'My puppy'

'Oh. Well, nothings going to happen to him either.'

The girl was beginning to look more relaxed around Curtis, and this was a good thing for him, at least-now all he had to was fnd the girl's mother.

'But...How do you know?'

'Because I have a really BIG friend and as long as he's not around no one's going to hurt any of us'

'But how? Is he a Giraffe?'

Curtis chuckled slightly, he loved the way children thought,so innocent.

'No,but he's as big as one-'

'But...'

'He's a robot'

'A...Robot...'

The girl stuck her tongue out but obviously had friends or a brother with robotic toys,or surely she wouldn't have given such a response like she had.

'He's really nice and turns into a red and blue truck. He'll protect all of us'

'Where is he'

That was a good question,Curtis looked around,where was Optimus? Surely he would have been told about this? He hoped that he was on his way, maybe he was off fighting the Decepticons somewhere else. He turned back to the girl and smiled widely,he would give her a lie.

'He's fighting the bad guys over by the fire'

'MELONIE!'

Came a woman's strangled cry,appearing by the girl was an older woman with greying hair.

'Mommy!

'I was so worried about you'

The girl lept into her mother's arms,who looked Curtis over suspeciously but then looked grateful towards him once she realized he had been there keeping the girl calm and safe.

'Let's go sweety'

'Mommy! That man has a friend who's fighting the bad guys'

'Really...how cool. And here's your friend-'

'Sam!'

The woman handed the girl a plush of a small golden lab,there was a pause before the pair disappeared into the tail end of the crowd that had been exiting the show grounds. Shaking his head,Curtis smirked, so Sam was a toy dog,he wasn't all that surprised.

The yellow Camaro sped past stationary planes as it moved towards the fire-He'd been slowed by the people leaving through any gates or means they could find and it was impossible to go as quickly as he would have liked without running some of them over. But now he had a clean path,void of humans-his only concern was where the Decepticons had gone and when were they going to come back.

'Bumblebee, we're almost to the airport-what's going on out there'

the Camaro's com beeped as Optimus' voice broke through,startling Bumblebee, luckily he was dark and no one saw him swurve slightly.

'I'm not sure. It looks like the Decepticons entered the airshow-but I don't know what they're up to, they did shoot down a plane'

He barely acknowledged the pair of highbeams coming up quickly behind him, he was nearly at the fire and needed to get to the otherside,but had no idea what awaited him on the otherside. It could be a trap or it could be something else all together,the lack of Decepticon attack now was making him even more uneasy. The firetrucks that had first hit the fire now were retreating at top speed,they didn't seem to have been able to tame the flames.

'Becareful Bumblebee,The Decepticons are after something'

'Don't worry'

Bumblebee ended the communication,finally noticing that he was being followed and cursed, he didn't know if it were the humans or one of the Decepticons. He needed to think quick or become the next target of an attack...

'HEY! Bumblebee!'

'Scout...'

'Where's Amber!'

Coming up beside the Camaro,Scout began to over take him and showed no sign of stopped as the pair continued straight towards the raging wall of flames.

'She's with Curtis,probably in that crowd thats leaving or looking for us'

'See? This' what happens when I'm gone a few hours...'

Scout spun around,fish tailing slightly as he sped into a full turn,ripping up some earth and hitting Bumblebee with it before taking off the way he had just come.

'Its not my-'

'I know, its Ameba'

Without another word,Scout was gone-leaving Bumblebee slightly confused however,he turned his attention back to the fire and readied himself. It would take far too much time to go around the firewall,so instead he was going to go through the wall.

'Here-we-go!'

He picked up speed,not going at his limit,for a few moments he felt his tires leave the ground...then he had hit the burning wall of fire.

'Ah-ha!'

Bumblebee began to skid to a stop as he came to a safe landing on the otherside of the wall,kinda of shocked that he had actually done what he had.

'Stop playing games!'

Came a sharp feminine bark-transforming instantly Bumblebee looked around,gun in hand,ready for an assault but then he laid eyes on Ameba and sighed. She wasn't alone,nor was she in her vehicle form-kneeling over a dark shape that laid in the grass. It took Bumblebee a moment to realize it was a robot and that it was what the Decepticons had shot down. Putting his gun away,he quickly moved over to the pair,that's when he spotted Amber,she was tending to a human that was also laying in the grass,unconcious.

'Ameba,who are these two?'

'This one's name is Crusher,she crashed here with a few others and myself several years ago, but I had thought the Decepticons had destroyed her...'

'And the human?'

'Her name's Liane. She's an old friend of mine'

Amber muttered,though she didn't sound at all thrilled to see her old friend,which caused Bumblebee to wonder if they had really been that close of friends in the past,surely Amber would have been more upset if they had.

'Crusher needs repairs,Ratchet should hurry up and get here, we can't transport her'

Ameba had done what she could to ease her old comrade's pain,but it was very little compaired to what needed to be done and there was even a chance that Crusher could slip away,unable to be be restored even by Ratchet.

'Has she said anything? Why did the Decepticons shoot her down?'

Bumblebee looked around,still not convinced that they were in the clear, and knew that the Decepticons were probably waiting for them to lower their guards before attacking again.

'No idea. Perhaps it has something to do with the girl who was accompaning her'

'...maybe...Something's not right...'

Amber glanced up, she had been thinking the same thing, she then looked towards the show grounds or what she could see through the fire. Something was seriously wrong,she didn't feel right,it felt bad...she just wished she had a way to find out where her friends were...to know what was happening over there. She didn't like being seperated from those she cared about like this,and it was probably more her own uneasiness that was causing her body to tremble then the feeling she was getting from the air.

The last of the panic striken people had gone-Curtis lept down from the tank and was going to resume trying to locate Amber,even though it was dark now,but maybe he would be able to find one of the Autobots who would be able to tell him what was going on.

'Geez,what a...'

He froze in mid sentence as a sound now familiar eminated from behind him-Quickly spinning on heel, he saw the tank he'd just been resting on was now a robot, and it was not a nice looking one either. Leveling his cannon on his arm at the human,the robot released a long draw out growl,like he had been waiting all day for an opptertunity just like this one.

'You should learn to keep your mouth shut,human, you'll find you'll live longer'

Overkill growled,pushing the human back a few feet with the tip of his cannon-Curtis was mortified. What could he do now? There was no sign of Ameba or Bumblebee, this was bad-Curtis couldn't find his voice let alone enough strength to move, the giant cannon shoved in his face was more then enough to cause his body to seize up.

'Stop hogging all the fun'

Came a second voice, the black helicopter that Curtis had admired earlier was now transforming into a robot. There were two Decepticons! Forcing himself to take small steps back,Curtis had to get out of there but where would he go? Either of the robots could kill him before he went too far...and how many more were there? He could be running right into more, this was not what he had expected when he had imagined his first encounter with the evil robots...when he had imagined it, he had been with the Autobots...not alone.

'Go chase down your own human, this one sat on me, its mine'

'I don't care'

Overkill turned his gaze away from the human for a moment to glare at Blackout, though the other was looking past the tank and growled angerly,raising an arm.

'CAR!'

This caused Overkill to turn back in time to see the blue Mazda speeding towards them,both the Decepticons moved in unison,sending rounds of blasts aimed for the car,it was a mass of smoke,bullets,and other shells. Transforming,Scout rolled out of getting hit by the attacks,tumbling over the wet ground and skidding to a stop at Blackout's feet. The Decepticon pulled a blade off of his back and swung it down at the Autobot-Scout brought a leg around,sweeping one of Blackout's feet from under him. Causing him to lose balance and giving Scout enough time to roll over,transforming back into a car and holding a door open for Curtis.

'GET IN!'

'You don't need to tell me twice!'

Finding his strength once more,Curtis literally threw himself into the backseat of the car-Scout wasted not even a second as he sped away from the two Decepticons, who continued to shoot at him,it was now harder to dodge the attacks without hurting the human inside.

'WHAT WERE YOU DOING!?'

Growled Scout,some how finding that he was very frusterated with the human more then he was about the Decepticons trying to kill him.

'I...Um...'

Curtis didn't know how to reply,he didn't know how to explain that he knew this was a possiblity when he had dragged his friend along. He opened his mouth to appologize to the car when suddenly a F22 Raptor flew over them,Scout cursed but continued on as fast as he could,he was starting to think that he might not make it out with Curtis now that Starscream was there.

'That's not right...'

'What?'

Curtis turned around, he didn't see what Scout was referring to-The three Decepticons weren't giving chase any more nor were they even shooting at the pair, Scout was ignoring Curtis for the time being as he tried to figure out what was going on.

'Scout...What's that...'

'Hmmm?'

Scout scanned the area for what Curtis had spotted, there in the sky he could just barely make out something large flying towards them.

'Oh...Damn...'

He locked his back wheels,causing them to spin uncontrollably over the ground,skidding several feet and feeling the mud splash over the windows. Curtis yelped as he was tossed around the back of the car,he didn't know what was going on,why were they stopping? Finally the pair came to a stop after what felt like spinning forever-groaning,Curtis had hit his head on the wind shield in the spin. He was vaguely aware of the ground shaking violently around them moments after they had stopped but had thought it was just his head pounding and thought nothing else of it.

'What's...going on?'

He asked disjointedly, but Scout remained silent, the air was tense...worse then Curtis had felt it before, it felt like he was quivering but didn't know why. Looking out the window, he saw that several feet infront of them on either side was a giant metalic foot-even crouching low,Curtis couldn't see the owner of the feet,he blinked several times trying to make his brain focus on one thing at a time,though everything was still spinning.

'Scout...'

Scout began to back up,but he was too slow,one of the giant feet stomped down on him-trapping him under its weight. He could feel his tires sink into the ground,he wasn't worried about himself as much as he was for the human in his backseat and Amber. Laying on his back,staring at the car roof,Curtis looked horrified, like he knew now that they were going to be crushed and there was no way he could get out of the car to try and run to freedom.

'Scout...Who is that!?'

Grunting heavily,it seemed apparent that the Autobot was focusing on other things, and was possibly in pain,but Curtis couldn't tell nor did he have the heart to ask.

'Curtis...'

Scout finally spoke after what seemed like a long time, they sunk into the ground a little more and again the car groaned, how much more could he take?

'...Curtis...Meet Megatron...'


	21. Chapter Twenty: Short Lived Freedom

Chapter 20: Short lived Freedom

'Over there!'

The loud voice stirred Holly from her unconcious state,and instantly wished that she hadn't been awoken,she felt a sensation that was close to vertigo and disorintation at the same time, and it made her feel like her skin was crawling. When Skywarp had gone into his freefall, she had passed out from the lack of oxygen she had, given that she wasn't wearing a mask like she was sappoused to have, but in the end it was probably for the better. Trying to clear her mind,Holly saw out the windows a sea of black only lightened by a glow of orange somewhere below them,she leaned foreward a little to make herself more comfortable in the seat. She wondered if they were still around the airport, or if they were already heading back to the base,slowly she found herself becoming more aware and decided to try to speak to Skywarp again,but didn't know if he would be in the mood for conversation.

'Skywarp?'

'Hmmmm?'

'What's going on? Did I miss anything? Where are we?'

She gave a large yawn after finishing her string of questions, Skywarp seemed to finally pay attention to her,probably because she had annoyed him with her sudden questions but when he spoke he seemed more amused then anything.

'Evening...heh...You chose a good time to wake up'

'Huh...I did? What for?'

Confused more then before,Holly hadn't been told what the plan was after Liane was shot down-she blinked,had that happened already? Had she missed it? How long had she really been out? She didn't hear any loud cheering or blaring music,perhaps she had slept through the fake attack...she hoped not, but quickly tried to figure out what was going on and shifted again in the seat.

'To witness the beginning of the end'

Skywarp laughed, ignoring most of Holly's answers and not making any effort to clarify anything to her. Glancing out the windw,Holly saw the fire and smirked,she liked fire and though she didn't know what had caused it she was still amused. Then her eyes wandered to the sight of the robots, not in vehicle mode, which confused her-what was going on down there? They were too high and moving too fast for her to get a good look at them, but saw a few were near the fire they seemed to not have noticed the jet fly over them. Her eyes then were drawn to a much larger,silver one, who looked wicked and very pissed off. He seemed to be having an arguement with the others around him,she reconized them to Decepticons, mostly because she saw Starscream crawling back to his feet. They circled around, and Holly wanted to know who the large silver one was,he deffinatly was one she'd not seen before.

'Skywarp! who's that?'

'Who's that!? That...Is Megatron. Leader of the Decepticons!'

'Really!?'

Holly jerked foreward excitedly,smacking her face against the glass and whimpering in pain, she had only heard about this Megatron a few days ago and had wanted to meet him,not knowing how he would react. She didn't notice Skywarp snickering at her, she had really looked like she had tried to jump out of the cockpit and onto Megatron-he mused at how entertaining that would have been to see but the girl would probably die on impact or soon after,given that Megatron wouldn't know who she was and would probably assume she was some annoying random human...which she was...

'STOP!'

'What?'

Skywarp was confused,he didn't understand why Holly was suddenly demanding him to stop,he wondered if he had missed something or she had spotted something. He didn't see anything around them to cause alarm,so he began to turn back towards Megatron,beginning his decent and preparing to land.

'Pop the top!'

'Huh?'

'Let me Out!'

'Uh..no'

'C'mon Skywarp! I wanna meet Megatron! Let me out!'

'You do realize we're still a-'

'I don't care how high we are...LET. ME. OUT!'

'Prawyks!'

'Purple!'

'Do you suffer from any brain damage?'

'...Yes!...'

There was a groan from Skywarp as Holly giggled,she apparently really wanted to meet Megatron,or had hit her head and was delierious,he couldn't tell as he hadn't seen the girl this way before. It was interesting,he didn't know what to think of the human, if anything else she brought some entertainment into his normally drull job-pity she would be killed as soon as she revealed what they were after. There was a pause,Holly looked away from Megatron for a moment and a puzzled look on her face like she expected to be told off for acting up, groaning again Skywarp sighed heavily,

'Now,I don't really care what happens to you but...'

'Gasp!'

'What now!?'

Skywarp moved into a barrel roll thinking that perhaps they needed to dodge something-he knew that the girl was excited but he didn't want to risk having anything happen while she was in his costudy,and he hoped that she didn't try to do something stupid to get him in trouble. Grabbing the belt that held her in her seat with one hand and pressing her hand with the other she looked distrubed,her knees had come up a little and her hair fell in her face.

'Okay! Let's not do that again...at least without warning...'

'What?...This?'

Again he rolled and laughed as Holly squeeled,though if it was out of fear or fun he couldn't tell, or at least until she smiled widely and leaned foreward again-placing her head on the control panel and giggling.She was about to say something when Skywarp suddenly turned sharply,falling serious as he noticed he was being glared down by Starscream, but his desire to land was gone.

'Hold on'

'huh...Wait...what are we-'

Holly's question was cut off as the pair suddenly disappeared.

'Where's the Human!?'

Megatron demaneded,at the moment he seemed disinterested in the Autobot he had trapped under foot,instead he glared angerly at those who stood before him and awaited an answer. Starscream stepped foreward and pointed to the sky,though he didn't know exactly where Skywarp had disappeared to he knew they were still close-

'Great Megatron,I have kept the girl safe for your arrival. Despite the others protests who wanted to despose of her instantly'

Blackout and Overkill glanced to the other,both annoyed with Starscream and his lies,though they had thought it none of them ever acted on their thoughts,unlike their comrade infront of them.

'Lord Megatron-Starscream Lies!'

Blackout spoke up,catching the attention of Megatron who didn't look the least surprised to hear of this,though was annoyed at the same time.

'No Doubt he does'

'Wha...'

'It was He who tried to kill the girl'

Starscream was distracted by Blackout to notice Megatron advancing upon him-Swiftly reaching out,he grabbed Starscream around the neck and held him off the ground.

'You try to sabbatoge me, once again,Starscream?'

'N...n...No, its not like th..that at all...'

'Oh really? Then tell me, what was it?'

'The girl, She'd nearly cost us everything by running off with that weak pathetic Hammershot'

'Hammershot managed to survive a fight against both you AND Optimus in the same day, He's more then you'll ever be Starscream'

Overkill pipped in, turning the tables against Starscream further,though he really had wished to have seen the fight between Hammershot and Starscream,he had heard enough about it through Frenzy and some of the others. Starscream dreaded the direction the conversation was leading,it didn't help that the other two were against him, this gave him a great disadvantage in options,he would have to deal with them both in due time.

'Megatron, you must understand...I...I was never going to actually kill the girl...I was testing her...to see if she was worthy enough to even stand in your glorious presence...'

Megatron scowled, he really had no patience to deal with Starscream and any more of his lies but scrapping the annoying bot would only slow down his plans,as tempting as it were.

'You disgust me,Starscream'

He growled as he tossed Starscream to the side without much regard, returning his attention to the Autobot under his foot and smirking darkly

'How pathetic'

He then applied more pressure upon the car,annoyed that it was defying him the satisfaction of hearing it scream in pain.

'C...cu...Curtis...'

Scout groaned quietly,he knew that his untimely end was his own fault,he should have been more aware and quick to act, but then...would their situation be much different then it was now? Perhaps. It was the sight of Megatron, he had never seen the Decepticon before and had only heard of him through his friends and of course through Optimus, and now he truely understood why he was so feared by many...

Curtis continued to intently stare at the roof above him as if afraid that if he took his eyes off it it would collapse in on him, he was certain the only reason they were both still alive was because of the soft texture of the ground. Blinking suddenly like he had just been slapped in the face by an invisible force,he realized that he was being spoken to.

'I'm sorry'

'What!?'

'Its my fault'

'N...No,its not...'

Scout growled, he didn't have the patience nor the time for this conversation-unrolling one window he hoped that Curtis would get the point.

'What...Scout...No!'

'Get out,now'

'But...'

'No need for both of us to die like this'

Curtis thought it over for a moment,then gave a sharp nod, crawling on his back through the window-he felt bad for leaving the Autobot but Scout had a point, Curtis had a family to live for and someone had to be there to be the shoulder for Amber to lean on. He tumbled backwards out of the car,landing only a few feet from the ground,it wasn't as far as it should have been but it still winded him enough. Suddenly the chill air invaded his lungs and he rolled onto his side,forcing himself to move before he was spotted or worse.

'Run Curtis! Now'

Scout ordered the human before he began to spin his wheels,knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere but that wasn't the point. With the ground as muddy as it was, and the speed he spun his tires, mud and muck was sent flying in all directions-splattering all over Megatron and even as far as to reach this wrists. Curtis took this as his oppertunity to escape, throwing himself to his feet and began to run with no real idea of where he was going, nor did he really care. He was moving faster then he had ever done before, feeling as if he weren't even running but more like flying over the ground. he didn't want to leave Scout behind, but what could he do? He had no means of protection and even then they were out numbered, he knew that there was at least three of the Decepticons there.

'I'm sorry'

He muttered to himself,still feeling guilty despite knowing it wasn't his fault. Curtis' arm shot up as he was suddenly blinded by red,blue and white lights coming at him from the dark,

'Oh good, the cops'

He didn't know why but his body forced him to stop,perhaps a part of him hoped that it was Prowl but at the same time he had a feeling that it wasn't. There was a sound,a rush of wind and Curtis was knocked off his feet by a strong force-he was confused as to what had just happened.

'Ouch'

He growled as he came to a land roughly on his left shoulder, but found himself unable to breath proberly as he was now pinned under what felt like a large metal hand.

'Help!'

He gasped, but it was in vain-Barricade glared down at the human,trapping Curtis under his hand and made no attempt to move away nor to crush the human, instead enjoyed the look of fear on his face. He knew that the human was terrified in not knowing weither he was going to die or not, it was a look he loved to see upon any human's face.

'C'mon Ratchet!'

Ameba mummbled while starring down at Crusher, she had no idea how badly she actually damaged but it didn't seem life threatening, but then again Ameba was no medic. The human who had been involved in the crash looked to be fine, just a little banged up, she was probably protected by Crusher as they crashed. However,Ameba noticed Amber wasn't looking too good-she was starring intently at the fire as if trying to her a hole through it. She also looked deressed, Ameba turned to gaze over to Bumblebee-he stood not far from them,ready to act if they were attacked. Though it seemed doubtful that they would,given that they'd not seen or heard anything since the fire had errupted. Had something happened? Something to cause the Decepticons to abandon their original plan? She wanted to try and contact someone on the otherside of the fire but dared not to take the risk, no matter how badly she wanted to know what was going on out there.

'Where's Scout?'

Amber asked,her tone reflected none of what was really on her mind but Ameba knew that the girl was seriously concerned about the well being of the Autobot. Bumblebee hadn't heard the question,or if he had he had thought it was directed to Ameba.

'Bumblebee!'

'WHAT!?'

Bumblebee spun around,expecting an ambush but saw Ameba holding something to her nose and smiling innocently, he was confused.

'I thought it was...Oh never mind...Hey Bee where's Scout?'

'I...Wh...At?'

'Tsk. S...C...O...U...T...You know. He stands about this tall, is about this wide, a dark blue in colour...'

Ameba moved her arms to try and emphasise the point she was trying to make. Bumblebee frowned and gestured towards the fire-

'He's out there'

'What's he doing out there while you are over here doing nothing? Go help him!'

Amber spoke, moving towards Bumblebee with a look on her face very similiar to the one she had worn the day they had first met.

'I'm protecting...'

'We may be girls but we're fine'

Ameba chirped as if she they were having a normal conversation and not worring about being attacked from murderous robots.

'Then its settled. You're going out there'

'But wha-'

'And I'm coming with you'

'Hey! Wait a minute-'

'Its settled Bumblebee , you can't back out of it now'

'Ameba! I didn't agree to-'

'Let's go! C'Mon!'

Amber stood at Bumblebee's side and looked up at him with big round eyes and flapping her arms as if that would make him move. Sighing and knowing this was one arguement he wasn't going to win, he hung his head slightly and stepped back, transforming into his car form and waiting for Amber to climb in.

'Do you have some desire to die tonight'

He asked as he shut the door behind Amber and instantly took off for one of the ends of the fire,not wanting to risk what might happen if he tried to jump through the fire with the human with him now.

'I can't answer that'

'Oh?'

'Because even I don't know'

'Oh.'

Bumblebee fell silent for a few minutes as they drove, Amber was also silent, she was serious...it was a different kind of serious then he'd seen before, she wasn't moody and opinionated but quiet and hard to read, this was unnerving to the bot who had no idea if he might set her off or what she might do. Amber just wanted to be with Scout, she cursed the Decepticons and swore to find away to make them all pay if anything happened to him,

It wasn't long before they reached the end of the wall, turning sharply to head straight towards the center of the show grounds,the light cast by the fire eluminated the area enough that they could just barely make out their surroundings and those who were still there. Amber suddenly lept foreward in her seat and pointed to their right,her eyes were bright as she saw a robot crouched down over something...

'There's Curtis!'

She exclaimed now realizing it was her friend by the fact that he was waving one arm around in a vain attempt to catch the attention of someone. Bumblebee,however,was not paying attention to the human-instead he was intently watching who was standing over the boy.

'I'd give my left leg for just one normal day out...'

'Don't whine, we have to save Curtis!'

Amber snapped as she rocked back and forth like she thought it would make them move quicker, and looked very confused when they began to slow down.

'I don't know if you noticed but there's a Decepticon about to crush your friend-If I get too close Curtis will surely...'

Bumblebee should have been paying more attention to Amber,while he had been watching Barricade,Amber had seemed to lose her senses and jump out of the safety of the car.

'Ack...Amber! What are you doing!?'

Ignoring the Autobot,Amber continued to move towards the Decepticon. Bumblebee was torn,currently Curtis was slowly be crushed but if he moved foreward the human would die quicker, but if he stayed there both Curtis and Amber would be killed.

While Bumblebee tried to work out what to do, Amber walked right up to Barricade as if he weren't a giant murderous robot and tilted her head to one side...

'Crazy Humans!'

Bumblebee exclaimed in exasperation,he didn't understand what had possessed Amber to do something so stupid, how was getting herself killed going to help Scout...or any of them for that fact, it was only going to make matters worse in the long run...


	22. Chapter TwentyOne: Amused Yet

Chapter 21: Amused Yet?

'Excuse me Mister-Retarded-Looking-Flashlight-Man'

Amber said as if she were speaking to a normal human being, coming to a stop she placed her hands on her hips. Barricade glanced at the girl as she spoke to him, he looked puzzled for a few moments.

'You really should pick on someone your own size'

She gave a sharp nod of her head and smiled like this seemed like the most logical thing to do. Scowling,Barricade looked from the humans to Bumblebee and back again, he seemed to be amused by something as he began to shift his weight slightly. He then lifted a barely concious Curtis up before tossing him several feet out of his path with no remorse for the boys well being. Amber's eyes shot from Curtis to the Decepticon to Bumblebee,waiting to see who moved first, she wasn't even sure if her plan was going to work or if she was about to die as well.

'This human says I should crush you instead of her friend'

Barricade snarled taking a step towards Amber, who instantly took five back,just in case.

'Thanks Amber...'

Bumblebee muttered as he transformed,barely having time to move out of the way as Barricade charged right at him, narrowly missing stepping on Amber who dashed towards Curtis to see if he was alright, she didn't know if he was alive or not.

'Curtis...CURTIS!'

'Quest Jive Lore Fidgets Wow'

'Sounds about right'

Amber joked as she kneeled by her friends side, he was in an unconcious state, but alive and that's all that mattered at the moment,at least she wouldn't have to explain anything to his family about his mysterious death.

Bumblebee dashed back several feet, shooting over his shoulder every so often , to keep the Decepticons attention on him and to give the humans a chance to escape from harm's way.

'Coward'

Barricade bellowed as he gave chase,turning into his car form to pick up and cover the distance between him and the Autobot.

'Damn...'

Bumblebee did the same, speeding quickly away from the soggy ground until he felt cement under his tires again. Barricade was right on his tail, not even giving him the room to turn, he had a plan but he needed to put more space between him and his persuer. Banking to his left quickly, he began to skid over the cement,slidding past the underside of a large carrier jet. Barricade wasn't as quick but managed to keep pace as he too went into a half controlled slide over the cement. This was Bumblebee's only chance, while the Decepticon was busy trying to keep himself from losing his mark-time to do it or be over taken by Barricade for sure. Again Bumblebee made a sharp turn, his tires left the ground as he began to slid on his side, flipping over and over, he transformed. Rolling under the other side of the jet, he saw that Barricade was still following, this was good.

'C'mon a little further...'

Bumblebee urged,now everything felt as if it were moving slower then it really were-he watched carefully as Barricade began to slid under the plan and began to transform thinking that he'd be able to smack the vulendrable autobot.

'Now!'

Bumblebee yelled to himself as he pulled out his guns, not aiming for the Decepticon but the jet's fuel tank. It took only two shots before the tank errupted in a ball of fire-hitting Barricade with the full force of the blast, blowing the jet in two and sending Bumblebee sailing through the air from the shockwave of the blast. Everything became a blur,and the Autobot came to a rough landing on his back on the soggy ground again, bouncing off the earth until he finally came to a stop in a tired smouldering heap of metal.

'Ouch...'

Megatron looked up at the sudden explosion but decided it was not worth his concern, and if it were Blackout and Overkill would be more then enough to deal with it.

'Lord Megatron, there are more Autobots in the vacinity and more are on the way'

Thundercracker informed Megatron as he flew past, then returned to his aerial post with Skywarp(and Holly),Sunstorm and once again Starscream.

'Ah,seems your 'friends' value your life. Too bad they'll lose theirs instead'

Megatron put a conciderable amount down on Scout as he said this-Scout did all he could to keep himself giving into the pain, it was what Megatron wanted.

'you may be able to destroy me, Megatron, but many more will rise in my place...'

'Such notable last words-how pathetic'

Megatron watched the car sinking into the ground but it could only go so far before it would be forced to buckle and break under the pressure.

'Now then, where is that girl?'  
Megatron looked to the sky, searching for the 'Seeker' that carried the human but none were currently visible.

'TWANG!'

The noise was not what caught his attention but the vibrations that ran throughout him,annoying more then it really doing anything else to him. He glanced down and spotted a human girl, she was hitting him in the leg with a large piece of shrapenal.

'GET-OFF-MY-DAMN-CAR!'

Amber yelled, glaring up at Megatron and seeming to ignore the fact that he was more then twice her own size and could easily kill her a number of ways. Growling, he raised the foot that he had been pinning Scout down with, moving it over to where the girl stood.

'Disgusting Bug'

Amber didn't wait around this time, she took off in the opposite direction, trying her best to get away from the giant but knew that it would be near impossible to do. She would try and refused to show the fear on her face as she kept running, not turning back but was glad that now Scout could get up...she hoped.

'Amber!'

Scout didn't even think of what he was doing-Transforming as quickly as possible in his condition, he pulled the guns from his sides up and rolled onto his back, shooting up at Megatron.  
'LEAVE HER ALONE!'

He demanded, he had to draw the Decepticons attention away from the girl and it seemed to be working, Megatron was more annoyed now with the sudden attack from the smaller bot, though the attack was doing barely any damage to him.

'You both shall die'

Megatron swiftly grabbed Scout around the neck and raised him high off the ground, smirking as he saw that the Autobot still had more fight in him.

'HOLD ON SCOUT!'

Dashing out from the smokey darkness raced Bumblebee,guns raised as he shot at Megatron, aiming for his hand in an attempt to cause the Decepticon to drop his friend. Frowning irritatedly,Megatron growled,he had no patience for this and looking as if he barely moved, tossed Scout through the air. Hitting Bumblebee squarely in the chest and causing the pair to crumble to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.

'Now Die!'

Megatron brought his two arms together to form a large gun, and sent one blast directly at the two tangled Autobots. The night sky was light up as the blast impacted with something,weither it was the two or the ground before them was hard to tell. Amber spun around as she heard the noise and was hit with the shockwave which blasted her headon in a hot wave that sent her crashing hard onto the ground. She rolled instinctively until she bumped into something cool and metalic, but was too disoriented to tell what it was, she opened her eyes but couldn't see anything. Blinking a few times she hoped to flush her eyes thinking that she was perhaps just in a haze or something but quickly she realized that she wasn't. She couldn't see anything! No matter how many times she blinked or open and closed her eyes, she was blind! Beginning to feel vulendrable,Amber began to crawl away from whatever she had brushed against, not knowing where she landed or if she was about to be killed by a Decepticon.

'Hey,hey,hey-its alright! You're safe, we're here now'

Came a familiar,friendly voice-Amber shook her head and felt tears rolling down her cheeks, she was surprised, she hadn't even realized that she had begun to cry.

'Jazz! Scout an Bumblebee...'

she tried to speak but her throat closed and all she managed to cholk out was a sobbing noise-Jazz placed a hand on the girl to try and comfort her before he looked foreward. The area was quickly becoming thick from the smoke from the now three burning fires, but he had managed to see what had happened and knew who was lurking somewhere out of view.

'Prime, we've got a BIG problem'

'I Know'

Optimus replied as he dashed past,heading straight towards where the three Decepticons had been standing before they smoke engulfed them.

'Help Prowl, and get everyone out of here'

'But-'

'We don't need any more casuelities'

Optimus disappeared into the thick of the smoke and growled angerly. Raising his arms slightly, he braced himself as he collided with another large form and the pair tumbled to the ground. He managed to break away and land a good distance away, on his back.

'Megatron!?'

Optimus scrambled into a less prone position-Chuckling darkly,Megatron did the same.

'You sound so surprised to see me, Prime'

'No, just a little disappointed'

'Too bad our little reunion will be short lived'

Megatron swung at Optimus and missed,giving the Autobot the chance to grab him by the arm and pull him foreward-straight into his own fist. Connecting with the fist,Megatron stumbled back but made sure to turn his grip upon Optimus and threw him off balance as well. The two crashed to the ground again,Megatron seemed amused over the whole scuffle and rolled away before Optimus had time to recover.

'You lose Prime,You've always been too slow to keep up with me and now everything you care about will parish'

Megatron laughed darkly as he rose to his feet-Optimus scowled, that landing had winded him but he had a feeling that this meeting wouldn't go any further then what it had otherwise he would have been attacked again already.

'You're wrong,Megatron,No matter the situation I will always be here. To stop you and anyone who may follow in your footsteps. I am not going to give up on what is right, you may think you have the upper hand but that would be a fatal assumption.'

Now back on his feet,Optimus was ready to take another shot at the Decepticon-Megatron on the other hand sneered darkly.

'You really are a fool,Prime, and I'll be the one to personally see your face as you realize this moments before you die'

With that Megatron turned his back on Optimus and walked away,disappearing into the smoke-only leaving the echoes of his dark laugh to ring through Optimus' mind.

Moments later Ironhide and Jazz appeared at their leader's side, looking around wildly for the Decepticons.

'You let him go? Why Prime?'

Ironhide asked with confusion in his voice, he seemed more frusterated that the Decepticons had all turned tail and were gone before he had the chance to fight any of them.

'Because...'

He paused, he really didn't have an answer that could be placed in words at the moment. Jazz placed his hands on his sides and shook his head,chuckling a little as if trying to lighten the mood of the other two.

'Well the mess the Decepticons left behind looks worse then it really is-'

He said,changing the subject the same way Optimus had when Jazz had needed a time to think of what had happened.

'As far as I can tell, everyone is also alright. A little battered and slightly unconcious but safe and its safe to say that we didn't lose anyone tonight'

'That's good to hear Jazz. Let's go home'

Optimus began to treck towards the now dying fire where Ameba stood with Ratchet and the rest of those who had been caught in the nights attack.

Ali and Chris had been watching from the side of a hill over looking the airport, they were far enough to go undetected but able to see everything that happened. The plan now was for them to head back to the base as well, and probably talk to their friend for the last time before she went to 'meet' Megatron and would probably be killed afterwards. Ali slid off Beatdown's hood and cracked her knuckles and neck, looking like she had enjoyed quite a show, she was amused at how things had turned out and wished she had actually got to do more. But she would have to wait a little longer, the more time the Autobots didn't know about her and Chris the easier it would be to take them down through the humans helping them. She turned to comment on the whole night when she noticed that Chris had his mind a million miles away.

'Hey Chris, Lose something?'

She poked fun at his almost dead looking expression on his face, her attempt to jar his thoughts failed. Whatever he had weighing on his mind it must have been very troubling as he didn't even move to avoid being poked by the firey red head...Something was wrong but Ali wasn't going to pester him, she would give him time and would wait for the truck to force the human out of his thoughts so that they may leave once again...


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo: Brick Wall

Chapter 22: Like talking to a brick wall

It was late morning of the day after the airshow, it was oddly quiet in the Decepticon base as most were either out, resting or doing their own thing. With nothing to do as she waited to meet Megatron, Holly was bored-she wasn't allowd to leave the base any all the Decepticons she felt more comfurtable around seemed to be no where in sight. On top of that she was hungry, she hadn't realized it, but it had been a few days since she last had a real meal and at least a day since anything at all, she had eaten the last of her snacks before the airshow inncodent. It was bothersom, that the Decepticons had no food, but at the same time she knew that they had no reason to have food...

With a loud groan,Holly collapsed on a chair in a rec-room that was clearly turned into the human's main room. Ali was the only one in there, Chris being elsewhere, and she looked unamused as Holly's loud noise had disrupted her quiet contemplation over a hot cup of tea. For a few moments no words were exchanged between the pair until finally Ali finished her tea and frowned,

'ALRIGHT, I'LL GO GET YOU SOME BLOODY FOOD! Just stop moapping around. Grah! Mortals!'

She growled, irrateted to the point of snapping. She lept to her feet and walked passed Holly, taking the twenty dollar bill that had mysteriously appeared in her hand.

'And don't say that I never do anything for you"

Ali finished, stomping out of the room and could be heard cussing the whole way down the hall. Had Holly been in her normal mood, she would have enjoyed her friends reaction more and probably would have been kicked or hurt in some form. Glancing around the room for something to pass the time, Holly spotted Ratbat in a corner,doing his best to not be noticed by anyone-weither he was there on his own accord or because of Soundwave, was unapparent.

"So cute..but you suck at hiding'

She giggled, forcing herself to her feet and moving over to the cassette bot on the wall.

'What are you doing,Ratbat?'

She looked up at the robot but he didn't move, perhaps he was sleeping? She raised a hand to poke Ratbat, and finally he moved, giving a small grunt as he dropped off his perch and flew out of Holly's reach.

'That's cheating'

She pouted slightly and turned around to see Chris standing at the door-Yelping Holly jumped out of her skin before giggling insanely.

'Stop being so sneaky Chris'

'Are you done bugging Ratbat?'

'No, But...but...I...'

She slowly stopped speaking and frowned as she realized that there was something not right about him. Tilting her head to one side,she felt a very strong nervous feeling wash over the pit of her stomach and Despite Chris' normal demeanor, she could sense that he needed to talk about something.

'Chris...are...is..."

'Come, walk with me'

'Um...okay...'

She took off after him, mind racing but couldn't come up with anything that would make logical sense in where her friend was concerned. She had seen him this serious only a few times before and each time it was always about something that was pretty life altering, and perhaps that was why she felt so nervous, she was afraid to find out what he had to say. They walked in silence for over twenty minutes, Holly wanted to try and pry the answer from Chris but after a few failed attempts at speaking she decided to just wait for him to take his time.

'Holly, I have something very important to tell you'

'Okay.'

'I..I received a disturbing phone call last night'

'er...was it from Jeremy?'

'No'

'Daniel?'

'No'

'Um...Devon?'

'No'

'Oh..I know-Miss Iftody!?'

'No..WHAT!? No! Holly-its none of them,'

'Oh...okay...then who?'

'Grrr...Someone we both know from a long time ago'

'huh?'

Holly stopped, narrowing her eyes and trying o recall who they both knew from years ago that would disturb Chris by calling him out of the blue. Honestly, Holly couldn't think of anyone, but then she had a horrible memory even on the best of the days.

'Any idea?'

'I honestly don't know, Chris'

'Ugh. Think about it. Who do you and I know, who shouldn't be calling me. Who do we know that only you and I know, who shouldn't...isn't...can't be here!?'

Holly blinked, Chris was now starring intensly into her eyes, trying to tell her without words. Now she was started to get scared and took a moment to close her eyes, wishing Chris would look away.

'I don't know! CHRIS! The only person I can think of is...Is dead! And Dead people can't...'

She gasped as she saw the expression surface in her friends eyes, and knew that what she had thought was what he was trying to tell her.

'No...Impossible...Chris...you're lying...it can't be! No...Its not! STOP IT! STOP LYING TO ME!'

She shook her head, feeling tears streaming down her face, it had to be a trick, a dream,it couldn't be true...Jen was dead. Period. She drowned. Seven years agon, there was no way...there just couldn't...It was impossible.

'Holly...'

Chris knew that Holly would react this way,who wouldn't after basically being told their best friend who they thought was dead was really alive? He had to pass on the message he had been given, though at this rate, it was not going the way he had hoped.

'Holly, Jen says-'

'NO!'

Holly yelled, now glaring at him through teary blurred eyes, she took several steps back.

'Listen, Holly-'

'SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE!'

Holly then dashed away from Chris, he looked shocked, he hadn't expected this reaction from Holly. Growling darkly, he wasn't going to chase after her, he knew better then that, Holly needed time to come to her senses and let the truth set in.

Running blindly, Holly didn't want to be around anyone or be at the base, she had to get away from everything and everyone. She ran for several minutes before finally her legs gave out and she tripped over her own feet, falling foreward she slid across the ground a few feet. Laying there sobbing in her arms for a while before she realized she wasn't alone.

'What's gotten into you?'

Came Sunstorm's laughing voice, apparently he had been the first to notice the sobbing human. Holly didn't reply, which annoyed him and he turned his back to her, deciding to ignore her in return.Skywarp glanced to Thundercracker who was now standing over the girl and frowned, leaning against a wall and looking disinterested in the whole situation.

'Its your own fault that you tripped"

'N...no..I...its not that...'

Holly spoke through sobs, shakily pushing herself up into a sitting position. Trying to wipe the tears away from her eyes but failed.

'C...can one of y...You...take me...t...to town?'

She asked now trying to calm her voice but figured that the seekers would decline her request in fear of being scrapped by Megatron for taking her away from the base.

'Why?'

Skywarp asked, turning his head slightly towards the girl and his comrade, either he was bored or perhaps he was curious as to why the girl was making such a request,given that she seemed happy to be there all the other times.

'I...I think...I need to get something...'

The seekers now looked sceptical and none wanted to put effort forth into trying to explain themselves to Megatron or to a lesser degree Starscream.

'I know I'm sappoused to stay here...but...just...One of you do it?'

'Fine.'

Thundercracker sighed, though gave no reason or explination as to why he had decided to go along with Holly.

"you've gone soft,Thundercracker'

Sunstorm laughed teasingly,as he walked by and was obviously implying something else that had probably been brought up previously to this.

'No, I'm just tired of your face'

'Now you're a joker? haha"

As the two pantered back and forth a little more, Skywarp glanced down to Holly who refused to look at him now,he sighed...Humans were so hard to understand, and this girl was no exception. Thundercracker transformed and waited for Holly to climb in, he seemed to have gotten annoyed with his comrade and just wanted to leave at this point.

Chris was stalking through the shadows with a large scowl on his face, he'd hoped things would have gone differently and that he no longer had to walk around with the burden of holding the message from a dead girl.He spotted Ali with an armfull of grocheries and muttering still from when she left over half an hour ago.

'Chris,where the hell is that bloody Holly'

'Gone'

'What do you mean!?'

'She took off, she's not here'

'Dammit!'

in her frusteration,Ali dropped the bags she had carried and cursed profoundly for a good five minutes before she picked up the bags of food again and stormed off muttering about never doing Holly any more favors and that the food was hers only. Chris turned to continue but went half a step before he spotted Hammershot heading straight for him not looking too impressed, Chris' mood darkened, he just wanted to be left alone by this point. But it only made sense that someone would come around after all the noise Holly had made,Chris was surprised that no one had shown up earlier,given that it had sounded like he had been killing her.

'Is it true?'

Hammershot asked as he came to a stop before Chris-it took him a moment to realize that the Decepticon had heard him tell Ali that Holly was gone.

'Yes. She ran away.'

'Why?'

'I don't know'

'Don't lie to me'

Hammershot wasn't fooled by the lie Chris had just tried to pass off on him.

'Fine. She ran away because...I told her that her friend...her dead friend,wasn't as dead as we thought'

'Why would you do that?'

'Because she needs to know...that and Jen wants to meet up with her.'

'Where?'

'I don't know!'

Chris growled, this time he was telling the truth, he hadn't bothered to ask Jennifer when she asked him to pass on the message and figured that Holly would know anyways.

'You. Don't. Know."

'I don't care if you don't believe me but I didn't ask'

Hammershot lowered h is head and looked thoughtful for a few moments, seeming to have accepted the boys answer.

'Does anyone else know this Jen?'

'No. but Holly's told people about her'

'I see'

'Don't count on any of them to be a help though'

'Its worth a try'

'What?'

Hammershot walked away without explaining to Chris what he ment, but Chris wasn't in the mood to ask the Decepticon what he was planning.

Blaster was leaning back in a chair, listening to Ratchet as he tried explaining the complications involved with Crusher when suddenly the room was filled with static.

'What in the name of-'

Blaster looked around the room before realizing that the sound was eminating from him, which only confused him further.

'Is anyone getting this-'

Blaster glanced up to his friend, the pair reconized the voice but it did little to ease their minds-if anything it caused them more concern. Blaster decided to answer the distorted signal.

'What do you want,Hammershot!?'

'Cut the attitude,Blaster'

'I'll cut something else if you don't answer my question.'

'I need to ask Amber-'

'No'

'Let me finish'

'No. Whatever you want with her, it can't be good'

'Damn Autobot,get over yourselves, this' important'

'I hardly think so Decepti-junk'

Hammershot was growing annoyed with the Autobot.He gave a long drawn out groan that came across as more of a growl as he tried to keep himself from snapping.

'Keh...Riiight...Cry me a river Dummershot'

There was another pause, and Hammershot began to realize how foolish he had been, he had missed the obvious.

'You have no idea, but you just told me what I wanted to hear'

'wait! What!? Hammershot!'

But the communication was cut, Blaster didn't know what he had said but he had a feeling nothing good was going to come of it. Ratchet stood up slowly and sighed,

'I'm goig to check on the patients'

'But...What about...'

'You'd better tell Prime 'Before' something happens..."


	24. Chapter TwentyThree: Don't cry

Chapter 23: Don't cry-its the truth.

The damage to her eyes was said only to be temperary,but still Amber hated the feeling of helplessness in the pit of her stomcah-How was she sappoused to help her injured friends if she couldn't even see? Not to mension,she wanted to go to her car,this was the second time he had been injured because of those stupid Decepticons,it was starting to frusterate her and she hoped that one of them got it in return...

Frowning she laid on her back and wondered how long it had actually been since the attack at the airshow-she really didn't know but trying to gauge by how sore she was probably wasn't accurate as she felt like she'd been laying on her back for months. Restless,Amber knew that if she didn't try to do something soon she might as well just go insane...

'Is she awake?'

Blaster's voice interrupted her thoughts,slowly Amber pushed herself into a sitting position,almost instinctively and had a moment of disorientation,which she had to grab onto the bed for support or face falling off and giving herself a concussion. She waited a few moments,then realized that Blaster was probably talking about Crusher. Sighing,and frusterated,Amber was about to flop back onto the bed when she heard the sound of someone entering the room she was 'resting in' followed by the conversation that was continuing from before.

'IdontknowbutshouldwereallybedoingthiswhatifRatchetcomesinandfindsusherewellbeintroubletroubletrouble.'

'Uh...Oh Hey Amber!'

Amber wasn't sure what was going on but she probably had a very unamused\puzzled look on her face, or what part of it that was still visible from the wrapping around her head. Her mind raced to try to come up with a reason for Blaster and Blurr to come in and suddenly decide to talk to her...Maybe they had to ask her what everyone had been doing before the Decepticons had attacked? She didn't know, but she really wished that she could see, she hated this condition of hers and no matter how many times she was told it wasn't perminant,it was sure taking too long for her eyesight to heal.

'So, am I really that hideous or are you two just bored?'

She asked in a slightly standoffish tone,moving her head from side to side as she didn't know where either bot stood and didn't care that she might look foolish in the process.

'Ah...Well...No...Amber...I'

Blaster stumbled as he tried to ask Amber his question without setting her off or causing more trouble for them all, knowing that no matter how he went about it,she would probably get upset one way or another.

'Oh...I get it!'

Amber burst suddenly,giggling as she found Blaster's stuttering cute and couldn't help but tease him,it was a way to amuse herself in a little harmless fun anyways. Pushing herself off the bed she stood to her feet but leaned against the frame for support,not wanting to run into a wall or worse.

'Blaster...How sweet'

'Uh...what?'

'You. Don't be shy...'

'Shy?'

'Yes...You're trying to cough up the courage to ask me out,aren't you...'

'I...What?...um...'

Amber really did wish she had her eyesight back,she would have loved to see the expression on Blaster's face at her accusation, his reaction was priceless but the look would have made it all worth it. Her mood was lifted as she heard laughing from most likely Blurr and even Blaster seemed amused or perhaps just taken by surprise by the human's words.

'Um...No no...nothing like that..'

'What!?'

Amber forced herself to sound seriously upset about the answer she recieved,turning her back to the bots she began to sniffle like she was trying to hold back tears.

'Are you Implying something Blaster!?'

'What!? No...I...your a very lovely girl...but...I...'

Blaster really didn't know what to say now, and how was he going to get her to listen to him if she was upset with him...And with Blurr as no help, this wasn't going very well in his favor.

Amber smirked after a while and shook her head, taking a few more moments to chuckle over the conversation and let the mood slowly return to a more serious one that it was before.

'Now that we've established what you 'Aren't' going to ask me...'

'Oh good, I thought you really were mad at me'

'Why?'

'Nothing...Continue...'

'yuh huh'

It wasn't as much fun to tease without seeing the fruits of her labour but it was a good way to pass the time anyways, she just wished that things weren't probably going to put her in a bad mood, which she suspected as soon as the pair had entered the room.

'Anyways...What do you really want'

'About that...Amber...Why would Hammershot want to talk to you?'

Amber felt her face fall, she had no idea why the Hummer would want to talk to her but it probably had something to do with Holly.

'I don't know.'

'He sounded like...well...'

'What did he say?'

'Listen'

She didn't catch on to what he ment until the recording of the conversation began to play and she fell silent-she listened intently though the whole conversation lasted less then a minute.

'I dun understand what he wanted nor what I said but-'

'You didn't think of actually asking me? Don't I get a say in who I speak to?'

'I...who...'

'Maybe I wanted to hear what he had to say-it might have been about my friend'

'Or it was a trap'

Amber growled,her mind made up already-sight or no sight,she was going to find Hammershot. Blindly feeling her way past the bed and towards where she knew the door was located,she didn't care how foolish she may look,she wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with the Autobots selfish actions.

'Where are you going?'

'To Find Hammershot'

'you can't...'

'Why NoT!?'

'Firstly its more then likely a trap, secondly you can't see and thirdly no one's around who's able to protect you if you're attacked'

'What about Blurr?'

'NowaynowaynowayIamnotgoingtofindthatmonsterifhecannearlydestroyScoutwithouttryingthenhe'lltotallymaulmeandandand-'

'Okay,some help you are'

'I'll take her'

Amber froze,she didn't reconize the feminine voice that lightly broke the air. Leaning against the far wall,who had gone unnoticed until this point was a completely white female bot-she was alot smaller then the others,roughly standing ten feet tall. Blaster and Blurr stared at her for a few moments,trying to hide their surprise and the fact that neither of them had spotted her and even trying to figure out if she had been there the whole time.

'But Freeway, You're sappoused to be-'

'Heh. I've got some time to kill. Besides,I'm faster then all of you,even the darn Seekers would be hard pressed to catch me'

She giggled,moving between the pair until she stood near Amber and placed a gentle hand on the girl as if to tell her that they would be leaving soon and to not to worry.

'She's in good hands'

Blaster and Blurr both shared the same 'oh really?' look, sure Freeway was a capable warrior, she had a bad habbit of not doing what she was sappoused to and getting off track by feeding her youthful tendencies and some how managed to get on the wrong side of Prowl at least once a week one way or another.

'Okay! I'm going with 'Miss-I'm-not-a-jump-to-conclusions-jerky-man'

Amber nodded, deciding the first place to check would be the last place any of the Autobots would think of looking...The waterside park...

It as only a matter of minutes later that Amber held on tightly to the handle bars of the now pure white Firebolt motorcycle that she rode. She'd taken most of the wrappings off her face so that it wouldn't look as suspecious,though the helmet she wore hid most of the fact she had a thin cloth over her eyes. Freeway moved faster then Scout,a speed Amber could easily get used to,once she was fully well enough to race around that was.

'Where are we heading,Amber?'

Freeway asked as she turned onto the main highway towards the city-Amber took a moment to collect her thoughts,still trying to figure out what could possibly have happened to cause all this to arise.

'We need to go to the river'

She said as they weaved in and out of traffic dangerously,though she didn't know that but had a feeling they were probably doing something like that as she heard the sound of cars whipping past.

'Okay...what part of the river'

'Go to Waterside park, I think what we want is there'

'Isn't what we want Hammershot?'

Amber normally would have made a comment on Freeway's wording but she wasn't in the mood to give a reason for her sudden inappropriate remark.

'Yes and no. What we want is the same thing he wants-'

'And that is?'

'To find Holly'

They fell silent again, both in deep thought as they passed the area of town that Devon lived,he was probably at work so Amber didn't think much of dropping in unexpectedly. After about ten minutes of silence,Freeway laughed suddenly and felt as if she began to slow down,which was odd as Amber knew for certain that they weren't at the park yet.

'Whats going on?'

'Boy,oh boy. its a good thing this isn't a race'

'Hmmm?'

'Hammershot!'

'Where!?'

Freeway giggled as she moved up beside the Hummer long enough to be noticed before speeding ahead again.

'We just passed him...'

Amber gave a quiet 'Oh',wondering how he was going to take all of this,and furrowed her brows-as far as she could tell the Decepticons were closer to town then they were,so he should have already been at the park,unless he didn't leave right away-or wasn't sure where he was going-or perhaps he really was slow.At least the girls had the advantage,given their sleek and small and able to get further into the park before being spotted by some wandering eyes.

She barely acknowledged the fact she was chilled due to being partially wet, nor that her legs were sore from walking across the train bridge. Holly didn't care about all that,instead worked on trying to sort out the pain and thoughts she felt in her mind. How her world had felt like someone had come along and kicked in a glass window-that her grasp on reality had been broken. Fear,anger,hurt,joy,agony and confusion all boiled inside her and nothing of it made sense. She knew she was crying,but she could no longer feel her face, her stomach ached but she couldn't force herself to ease that pain. Why,How did this happen? Collapsing against the rail of the peir,Holly gasped for air-for so long she'd a hole in her sould, she'd lost her best friend but...that was a lie. She couldn't understand why...Why would Jen abandon her like that? Put her through all that pain,suffering and it was for what? And why had it been Chris who heard from Jen first? Why had Holly have to hear the 'should be joyous' news second hand? The fact she had no cell phone never crossed her mind, nor that there was a logical explination. Holly's worst fear was to lose those she cared about, but this...it was...not right...

A light rain began to pick up, the stormy weather wasn't completly gone yet but it was a dismel way to end the summer,though it wasn't technically over for another few weeks.

'Holly?'

The voice was soft but unmistakable,it was Jennifer! Holly literally stopped breathing for a few seconds,she wasn't ready to face her once best friend. She didn't move,her hair covered her face and other then the sounds of her breathing,Holly's slumped form could easily pass as a dead body. Jennifer stood on the bridge part of the peir, looking nothing as she once had in her younger days. She had long pink bangs and short purple hair in the back, she was taller then before, and wore nearly all leather-she looked as if she had just stepped out of one of her once precious comics.

'I'm so sorry,Holly'

She began,not knowing how to start a conversation under such circumstances but she had to warn her friend.

'You won't believe me and I don't blame you if you're mad but...'

'MAD!?"

Slowly Holly raised her head,hair slipped away to reveal her dark expression-the tears had stopped...for now.

'Mad is the understatement of the year.'

'I know...I...'

'For nearly a decade I think my best friend is dead! Gone forever! That I'd never see you again-Not even after death! You have no idea how much I've cried over losing you! How your DEATH really screwed with my mental state of mind! What it was like to try and better myself to live up to your image! How many times I was temped to end my own life because I wanted to see you again! you have no idea how much you ment to me! You don't know how this whole thing affected my life...Why couldn't you just...I don't know...send me a sign...or something...My whole life has been a mess...but even now...despite the fact you lied to me...Abandoned me...Tortured me...You're still my best friend...My soul sister and I'll always love you!'

No longer could she keep herself from breaking down again,Holly burst out in more tears but they felt lighter then before as if she had just unloaded a heavy weight from her shoulders.Without a word,Jen rushed foreward and embrassed her friend,holding her as tightly as possible. Her own tears flooding her face and she wished she could tell Holly everything that she wished she hadn't done, what she had to...where she'd been all these years and how sorry she truely was. She also wanted to wanted to tell HOlly how proud she was of her,how brave Holly needed to be to face the next couple of days. They all needed to be now,and wanted to warn her friend of all the dangers that now laid ahead of them all. But all that would have to wait,now was not the time and all they needed for now was time to sort out their own emotions,they needed to be there for each other and let the true power of friendship wash away the scars of the past.There was a long path ahead of them,and Jen had to keep her friends safe from what she had seen happen once...how was she going to tell them that she had already seen them all die once before? No...That could wait...Wait for the right time...if a time ever came to be that time,she would let them know...she wouldn't have much of a choice, if she wanted to save them...


	25. Chapter TwentyFour:The Code

Chapter 24: The Code

A good twenty minutes had passed before either girl was calm enough to speak, though it was a strain to their now exausted bodies. The stress was probably worse for Holly, who had been shaking and more upset then Jen had,but then that was understandable.

'Jen...is this real?'

Holly asked weakly, using her friend for support to stand back to her feet, her body was tingling and numb all over, she didn't like the feeling of most of her body being 'asleep' and knew that pain was going to wash over her soon.

'Unfortunatly.yes'

'Un...Fortunatly?'

'Not 'This' but...well...'

Jen gestured around them as if trying to find the right words to explain what she ment.

'I'm sorry. I never ment for you to get dragged into this...or Chris...or anyone...'

'Into what? The war? I think we can deal-'

'Well...sort of...There's more to it then that. I guess, yes,because of me the Decepticons went after you.'

'Huh?'

Holly pushed away from Jen, stumbling but using the rail to keep herself standing.

'I..Do you remember me telling you about the time I hacked into the Pentagon?'

'Yes, right before you showed me a-'

'Well, that was a lie'

'Oh...Then what did we'

"No, I did...but only once...when you were at my place that night.'

'Ok...ay?'

'The time I lied to you...I didn't hack into the Pentagon...I hacked into an alien ship'

'oh...WHAT!?"

Holly knew that her friend had been a hacker but how and why had Jen hacked into an alien ship? Was she crazy? Well, that was a given, but still...

'Um...yea, don't ask,I'm still working on that answer. Anyways, I kinda stole some information from the ship and gave it to you'

"Uh...'

'heh. Holly...its the code I gave you and told you never to lose...its what the Decepticons are after...and it kinda activates the weapon system on the ship I hacked into-which in an unrelated inciddent had crash landed on Earth about the time I found the code.'

Jen laughed nervously and looked out to the middle of the river before returning her gaze upon Holly. Who,if it were possible was experiencing the equvilant of having her brain explode.

'Okay, A war between giant alien robots I can understand but what you all just said sounded just like ancient persian to me.'

'I'm sorry...Basically...Do you still have that code?'

'um...somewhere in a pile of papers back at my home...I think...'

Jen tilted her head, seeing the two sides of this news, though she didn't know just what it ment for the rest of them, more so..if Holly had lost the code then she was surely going to die, Jen sure the hell didn't remember it after so long, it was such a strange code...

'Well...then...That's good but Megatron will be wanting it soon...You'll have to stall him'

'I...um...yea right...No problem. Stalling the leader of the Decepticon army, should be a real easy task'

'I'm serious. Whatever you do-Do NOT give it to him'

'But...'

'Don't give it to anyone, not even the Autobots'

'I-'

'I know it has a second purpose, but even Tabi doesn't know'

'Who's Tabi?'

'That's not important right now. OH! and stay away from the 'Kratton Organization'

'The who?'

'The men who look like M.I.B'

'The Men In Black are here? Where?'

'No. Listen...I have to go again, but I'm not far from you'

'Wait! Jen! No!...Why...'

Jen knew what was probably going through her friends mind but also knew the danger they were both in, she had spent far too long out in the open then she had intended. Stuffing one hand into her jacket pocket, Jen fished out a small 'H' shaped necklace and shoved it into Holly's hands-Holly looked up at her friend with a mixture of confusion and sorrow in her eyes.

'It will protect you when the time comes-'

'Huh?'

'I'll get ahold of you again,soon,I promise. Hopefully this time I don't need to hack into all the Cellular satellites to get your attention.'

'That was you!? Chris was so...'

Jen cut Holly off by giving her friend one more tight embrass before dashing away,her hair swinging out behind her, she paused briefly to glance back to her friend before disappearing behind some dense river side bushes. This meeting had only made Holly more confused,though she felt a little better,she still had much to sort out in her mind. Slipping the necklace around her neck,she leaned against the railing and watched the rain hit the water below...she would head back to Thundercracker in a few more minutes,he was probably growing impatient with waiting anyways,that and she wanted to talk to someone...

Amber and Freeway had made it to the park first but had waited for Hammershot to arrive-who appeared uneasy and confused as to why they would do such a thing.

'So..neither of you know if she's even here?'

He asked,annoyed with the wet weather but glad at the same time as it ment less people around to get in his way if he had to transform.

'No,I wanted to see why you were looking to talk to me'

Amber replied,crossing her arms and acting annoyed at him-like it was all his fault that she was dragged out of bed in the middle of a storm and into town.

'I wanted to know if you knew where Holly would go while uspet about Jen but Blaster reminded me of the river so I didn't need you anyways'

'Then we...wait...Jen's involved? Who upset Holly? Was it you? I'm gonna-'

'I hate to interrupt you two, but shouldn't we be actually 'looking' for Holly?'

Freeway asked with a slight nervous tone in her voice,she wasn't as interested in finding the girl as the others with her at the moment but instead she wanted to find the person Holly had gone to find, Jennifer...

Amber frowned, it was true that they should be looking for Holly but Hammershot was too large to just drive through the park and Amber really didn't have the eyes to see her friend, she shook her head and took the helmet off,it was annoying her.

'Freeway you have to be my eyes'

'right'

'Wait...what's wrong with your eyes'

Hammershot asked, sounding as if he had just missed a crucial piece of information, but only recieved a dark snort from the girls and Amber turned away with a hint of bitterness.

'Why don't you ask 'mister-over-sized-tin-can' what happened to my eyes. C'mon Freeway,before more of these jerks show up'

'Gladly'

Freeway took off down a small path and away from any possible chance the Hummer had of stopping them from leaving, both of them ignored the loud protest from the Decepticon and almost gave the impression that they were taunting him to follow after them if he dared.

The two managed to go from one end of the park and back again before Freeway spotted someone walking slowly across the train bridge that led to the otherside of the river, she sped towards the bridge while informing Amber that it was Holly. Amber then had the task of drawing her friends attention to them and hoping that she wouldn't run away-it would be harder to follow over the bridge on a motorcycle if she did run.

'Flying Waffle Fish Pancakes Spoon!'

Amber yelled out, knowing only Holly would understand the gibberish, or at the very least be curious as to who or what was being yelled and look up anyways.

Sure enough,Holly turned her head in the direction of the sudden noise,she had only caught half of what had been said and had only assumed that it was some punk kids being jerks as normal in the town. She saw Amber and stopped,teetering on one of the beams,confused and again glanced to the otherside of the river before looking as if she was deciding on continuing or turning back. After a few moments and looking like she was about to fall off, she turned around and began to dash towards the back of the huge collisume where the train bridge was easiest accessable by foot-She wanted to find out what Amber wanted and where she had gotten the really awsome looking Motorcycle, the idea of it being an Autobot wasn't the first conclusion her brain would allow to come to her mind. Freeway felt odd, like they were being watched but she couldn't see anything and figured that if there were other Decepticons then they would have been attacked...she moved towards the parkinglot to meet up with the girl,again telling Amber what was going on and deciding not to tell her about the uneasy feeling she had...not yet anyways...

Holly stood in the parkinglot behind the large collisume,she really wasn't in the mood for talking to Amber but knew it would only cause more tension between them if she didn't at least say 'hi' to her friend-though they were technically on opposite sides,Holly didn't see any reason why meeting her friend was bad.

Freeway came to a skidding hault a few feet from Holly -taking one more scan around the area to make sure that it was clear.

'Amber?'

Holly glanced around,now she was expecting one of the Autobots that normally hung around Amber to show up at any moment-And given the past week she wouldn't be too surprised if one of them was lurking around keeping an eye on what was going on.

'Holly,whats going on with you? Are you alright? Why did you come down here...Did someone insult...did they say something about...'

'Um...I really rather not get into it right now-'

She looked away,not wanting to lose her cool again,she knew that if she were to break down that she would surely pass out from putting her body through so much emotional stress.

Moving as if she had her sight back,Amber slid off the bike,walked over to stop infront of Holly and growled frusteratedly,knowing that her friend was purposely holding in things she needed to get out of her,she had to still pry Holly to trust in her...but Holly trusted no one.

'Tell me now-'

'I don't want to-'

'We won't get another chance-'

'So.'

It was at this point that Hammershot came around the corner, spitting out mud as his tires sunk into the wet ground, he only came to a stop after transforming and stopping himself by sticking out one leg infront of him.

'HOLLY!'

'Stay back!'

Freeway also transformed and lept in the way between Hammershot and the girls-Holly was slightly surprised to see the motorcycle transform and felt even more suspecious then before.

'Amber...what's going...'

"Nothing. But I won't let you go to him until you tell me what's wrong with you'

'What...No...Amber I want to be with Hammershot...Move!'

Holly tried to push past Amber, she wanted to be with the Hummer,she knew she would be safe with him and that she would be able to let her body heal itself and he'd watch over her...Amber,however,had other ideas and as Holly shoved her, she shoved back.

'NO!'

Amber moved without thinking, she brought up her hand and slapped Holly across the face-The air was shattered by the sound of the harshness released in the slap and even the two transformers looked shocked at what had just happened. Stepping back a few feet,Holly placed a hand on her face and had a look on her face like she had just been slapped awake. Now she saw that Amber's face was wet and not because of the rain,she also finally noticed the thin material around Amber's eyes.

'Amber...I'm...What happened to you?'

'That doesn't matter!'

'Uh-yes it does'

'What do you care!? You just turned your back on us and-'

'Amber, listen I can't...'

'You CAN'T or you WON'T!! There's a big difference and knowing you...You aren't even trying..Your not thinking...Only of yourself...Never of those who care about you!"

Amber fell silent, she hadn't ment to get so upset with Holly but it had come out and she didn't regret it, at least she hadn't said some of the things she could have-she hadn't realized that she had been so wound up with emotions,but it had been the first time in over a week that she had actually spoken to or even seen her friend,so she understood that it was only her own way of protecting herself.

'Amber...We've been through this before...'

'And how many times have I told you that you can come to me with...'

Holly looked away again, she could never understand why Amber always pressed her for trying to trust her and to tell her what was bothering her, Holly was used to being left alone and perhaps that was one reason why she could relate to the Decepticons more, none of them ever tried to bug her...though it seemed a lonely sort of way. She knew that Amber ment well, but it was more then just her own trust issues that kept her feeling this way, and with Jen's reappearance her mind was not in the right frame to be dealing with this. Holly opened her mouth to appologize when suddenly a siren broke her concintration and she whipped her head about trying to find out which direction it was coming from. Her first thought was of Barricade, which was understandable but then her thoughts went to the men Jen had warned her about...Holly felt nervous, she didn't want to be seperated from Hammershot or risk having some stupid humans torture him or who knows what else. Meanwhile, Amber tilted her head skyward,noting that the siren sounded different-there was a slight difference in its tune then the normal vehicles with sirens. She then realized what both Freeway and Hammershot already knew, that it was an Autobot and he was making his way straight towards them.

'Holly, you and Hammershot have to go'

'What'

Amber spun around real fast but her balance was off and she ended up slipping on the muddy ground, landing on her knees and feeling pain rush through her,she was certain to have cut something.

'Amber...are you alright?'

'NO'

Freeway asked the girl as she moved out of the way of blocking Hammershot from the girls but this put her closer to his reach,she had been trying to get out of the way completely. Too slow,she realized as a white sleek vehicle came into the parkinglot,lights flashing, the police car killed its sirens as it came upon the strange scene.

'Prowl!'

Freeway tried to quickly explain what was going on but the whole scene looked incrimidating and knew that even if she tried to reason with her superior she wouldn't be listened to, as she was still seen as youthful and too unexperienced in real battle.Transforming,Prowl frowned and raised his gun and held it level with Hammershot.

'Amber,Freeway,have either of you been hurt in any way?'

'No,but Prowl-you don't understand'

Amber stood again,grabbing Holly's arm for balance and revealing her true set back of having no sight,which given the direction things were going was starting to cause her to feel very uneasy. If a fight were to break out,she didn't know what she would do but hoped that Freeway would help her...and Holly...perhaps they would be able to sneak Holly away if that happened.

'Don't waste your breath, He won't listen to you'

'Shut it,Decepticon!'

'What? I no longer have a name?'

'Not as far as I'm concerned,the moment you turned your back on us-'

'Oh right...My bad.'

'tsk...Amber,we've been looking for you-'

'...We?'

'yes,there are some others looking for you along with me'

'Poor wittle cwop car, can't even take on a Hummer all by 'imself'

Hammershot sneered,not looking at all worried as Prowl glared at him with more anger and shoved the gun right into his face.

'Prowl, they aren't doing-'

'Freeway...is that the girl the-'

'NO!'

Hammershot growled, turning serious the moment the Autobot's attention was brought to Holly. He moved to put himself in the direct path to the girls,

'You...'

A loud blast broke the air,even Prowl jumped from surprise,his gun hadn't been the cause of the disturbance-Hammershot was thrown back several feet,landing on his back in a smouldering heap and didn't move. Holly screamed and forgot everything,pulling away from Amber's grasp she dashed foreward. What had happened if Prowl hadn't beeen the one to do it? and why wasn't he moving?

'Hammershot! Hammershot!? HAMMERSHOT!!!!'


	26. Chapter TwentyFive: The Breaking Point

Chapter 25: The Breaking point.

'Hammershot!'

Nothing else seemed to exist as Holly ran towards the Decepticon, she didn't care that there were other robots around,nor that she might get hurt rushing ahead without thinking. She didn't notice that her feet had left the ground until she crashed into the side of Hammershot,slipping slightly but holding onto him and sobbing loudly-she was scared,she didn't want to lose Hammershot,even though she knew he wanted to destroy the human race. Holly just wanted everyone to go away,and to leave both her and Hammershot alone,she didn't losen her grip as a loud groan eminated from Hammershot.

'Damn Autobots,that's the last time I trust one of you'

Slowly he moved into a sitting position,inspecting his wound, it was between his shoulder and arm-whoever had shot him had known exactly where to aim,an Autobot sniper no doubt...It spewed several sparks and he knew that it would slow him down,but not much,at least he didn't have to worry about fighting someone like Optimus-just a few rag tag Autobots who had nothing better to do with their lives. He then brought his attention to the girl sobbing at his side,he frowned-cursing the others for upsetting Holly even more then she needed to be.He lowered his head to speak under his breath to Holly,pushing himself into a more comfortable position,while keeping his attention on the still confused Autobots.

'Holly,don't cry over me...'

'I'm sorry...I can't help it...'

She blubbered, desperatly trying to calm herself and force herself into action given the sudden change in the situation-she knew that Hammershot was going to fight the Autobots and she would have to hide with the notion of perhaps even running. Sighing heavily, and deciding to not press the subject any further,Hammershot stood up-he would have to deal with the enemy first before he could tend to the girl.

'Stay Behind me'

He warned as he turned his dark look upon the others, directly mostly towards Prowl as he didn't find the female a real threat and she was dealing with Amber-Who was muttering something and obviously trying to find out what was going on.

'You Autobots have some nerve...and you call us the evil ones? Poor girl...All she needs is to be left alone and you show up and cause her to cry. Now I remember why I left...'

'Like this has happened before,Hammershot...'

but Prowl's words went unnoticed as Hammershot brought down his cannon so that it was now ready to be used in combat,moving foreward a few feet to put distance between him and wherever Holly had disappeared.

Freeway moved quickly towards Amber, knowing that things were going to get dangerous for the human, she had lost track of where Holly had gone but assumed she had moved a safe distance away.

'Amber, we need to get out of here'

'You haven't told me what's going on?'

'A fight'

'Who'

'That doesn't matter, we need to move'

'Where's Holly'

'I don't know'

'What...'

Freeway didn't give Amber the option to continue as she grabbed the human by the arm and pulled her down a sandy slop that would give them cover from most deflected or misplaced attacks.

Prowl no longer restrained his mannerisms as he had a cannon shoved in his face, he stepped back and muttered darkly as he tried to put distance infront of him.

'Hammershot-you will regret the day you betrayed us'

'Oh No...Whatever am I going to do...ask for forgiveness? Pa-lease a little police car isn't going to scare me.'

Hammershot mocks moments before lunging towards Prowl, unfortunatly the tactician had anticipated the move and managed to easily avaidthe attack, causing the Hummer to expose his side and most of his back to the entrance to the parkinglot.

'Hey-You forgot us,Hammershot'

Came the gruff voice of Ironhide as he appeared and sent several rounds from his own cannons at the Decepticon,not giving Hammershot a chance to attack him first. Stumbling back as the attack half hit him, catching his first injury, he strained to stay standing.

'Don't scrap him yet! we want in on this!'

From behind Ironhide,appeared two sleeker bots, also as they were already transformed, they looked near identical. Both shooting Hammershot squarly in the chest with their attacks, pushing him to the point where he fell onto his knee's,he grunted and struggled to try and get back onto his feet. With his injury,he knew that fighting Ironhide was going to take alot of his concintration but he also had the others. He didn't know where Holly was, but hoped that she had hidden so that none of the others would see her and then he wouldn't have to worry about them trying to drag her off.

'I'll show you junk heads how a REAL party's done'

Hammershot laughed, digging his feet into the ground moments before he sent out a charged round from his cannon,though it wasn't as strong as it could have been but it was enough for him to get his point across and give him a momentary reprieve. The sound that eminated after was deffening,loud enough that it unbalanced the Autobots sensors and if they didn't fall over they were very disoriented. His attack,though heading towards Ironhide, was aimed for the building behind him-which exploded in a firey ball upon impact. Those who were left standing were knocked down from the shockway of the explosion-Even this sent Hammershot off his feet. However,he managed to recover quicker then the others-movement in the sky caused him to look skyward-Starscream and Thundercracker looked as if they might decide to join the fight.

'Hammershot,stop causing us trouble!'

Starscream growled in a slight taunting manner as if he really didn't care what happened to his comrade who seemed out numbered by the enemy. Thundercracker,moved away and began to find an oppertunity to attack-Starscream on the other hand wasn't going to get involved,why would he have to? He'd been the one who instergated it by being the one who shot Hammershot,causing the Hummer to think that it had been the Autobots.

'At least I'm no coward!'

Hammershot shot back moments before recieving a kick in the head from a silver form-joining the fight late was Pomperpous Maximus.

'I may be late but I can still kick your tailpipe!'

Pomperous sneered darkly as he sent eight rounds of his gun into Hammershot before Ironhide shoved him back in an 'This' MY fight' manner. Hammershot was on his back, and given his options he hadn't much of a chance, nor would he be able to get another shot off with his cannon now unless lady luck smiled in his favor.

Thundercracker body slammed Pomperous as he came in for a landing,skidding to a stop as the silver subaru was sent back several feet, his attention was quickly brought to Prowl who shot at the jet to chase him away from the downed car. So preoccupied by the tactician,Thundercracker hadn't even noticed the brothers and it was only when the air was shattered by their united voices yelling 'Jet Judo!' followed by being thrown foreward that he realized what was going on. Pinned beneath the two, he couldn't move,even if he wanted to.

'Stupid Cars!'

He yelled frusteratedly-the pair were ignoring both the jet and Prowl who was trying to explain the gravity of the battle involving Hammershot and playing with Thundercracker could be done another time.

Hammershot glared up at Ironhide and Pomperous as he reappered by the hummer's side. He gave them no satisfaction in showing his pain,but remained defiant,he knew that they both understood that he could easily take the advantage in this battle if he had the oppertunity,even with his injuries and all. which is why they weren't going to give him that chance, they would rather see him suffer.

'Any last words,traitor?'

Ironhide growled, watching and knowing now that Hammershot wouldn't be able to speak or move for much longer, the damage he had sustained was enough to capacitate him if not more. Making sure to speak as if not staring into the face of twin barrel cannons,Hammershot glared hatefully at the older Autobot,no longer even paying attention to the nuesance that was Pompeous.

'Go ahead and finish me. I have no sappy words to try and gain some last minute sympathy. Just the knowledge and proof that I made the right decision by joining the Decepticons'

'Hammershot,you're a fool'

Ironhide grumbled as he raised his arms slightly,ready to finish the Decepticon off but jolted to a stop as he saw there was a small problem in his plan.

'STOP IT!'

The strangled scream from the girl caused even Prowl and the others to stop their arguement,wondering what a human was doing and thinking that even that they had been hurt.

Standing on shaky legs atop Hammershot's chest, now stood Holly,arms out as if shielding the Decepticon from the certain death he was about to have brought upon him. Ironhide frowned and released a long growl as he shook his head,assuming the girl was just being foolish,that she didn't fully understand what she was doing.

'Move aside'

'No'

'Move away from that scum or you'll die along side him'

Pomperous muttered,with a tone that sounded like he didn't care either way if the girl was there or not when Ironhide finished the traitor. Prowl,decided to turn his attention away from the pair ontop of Thundercracker and walked foreward a few feet,he didn't know what the girl was up to either but knew this was a delicate situation they were in now.

'We can't just kill the girl'

'Sure we can-watch-'

Pomperous moved as if he were about to kick the girl when suddenly he was hit in the head by a rock followed by the weight of someone pulling back on him.

'Get away from that girl,Pomperous'

Freeway growled,she had reamurged with Amber who had been lucky and hit the subaru in the head-though she was aiming for his face. Pomperous growled in protest as he was pulled back.

'Bad car! you should be stepped on!'

Amber muttered,now facing the opposite direction of where the group was,though none found it that amusing given the mood.

Ironhide shook his head again and turned his attention back to Holly,who still stood where she did giving no sign of leaving but she was obviously upset as tears rolled down her eyes.

'Foolish girl, just because you risk your life for a Decepticon,does not mean they will do the same for you'

'I know.'

'Then why are you doing so?'

'Because she's stupid'

'And you're Brian's-Ugly-Car-who-lives in a junk yard-jerk!'

Holly retorted back, she really didn't like the Subaru,though at the moment she didn't like anyone-to her they all needed to go away,but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

'I'm willing to die because...'

She began,returning her attention to Ironhide,she looked down not sure how she would explain the feelings swelling so close to the surface of her mind,or how she could make it make sense to robots.

'Because I won't let another person I care about die. I may be powerless to actually do something to you but even you can't stop me from dying if I so wish so. Then you will have a bigger problem on your hands.'

There was confusion spreading across the Autobots,even Hammershot was giving Holly an 'What are you doing' look, but she didn't notice it, instead she tried to fight back what she really wanted to say,no one other then Amber would understand what she ment anyways she was sure.

'I am only human,I have no powers,not even weapons to protect myself-but that doesn't matter to me. All I can do is stand by and support those I care about...and that is what I will do. As long as I stand here, you can't kill Hammershot'

A long pause fell upon the group,Amber now had righted herself and began to blindly walk foreward with her hands out infront of her, she wanted to give her friend a hug, she had caught what Holly ment,but had the others,probably not.

'You...'

Sighing,Holly lowered her head and side glanced towards Thundercracker,then her head snapped up and she glared at the Autobots once more with a firey defiance.

'Better yet, lets strike a deal...If you spare the lives of Hammershot and Thundercracker, then I'll come with you without problem and give you the code to win this war'

'WHAT!?'

A united shout of surprise rose from the group, even Amber seemed taken aback by this-but then she quickly caught herself and frowned,she knew that something was not right with this.Luckily Prowl was also onto the same conclusion and vocalized what Amber only thought.

'You've sided with the Decepticons but are willing to give us the way to end this war and destroy them all only to save two who would end up dying in the battle anyways? Even those two knuckle heads over there can see your lie.'

'Holly, you suck at lying!'

Amber threw in there as she gave a small giggle and wished that she could see Holly's face. Holly frowned but made no comment after Prowl's words, though she gave the impression that she was hurt that they had missed her underlining point. She opened her mouth to say more but felt a shudder run from her feet and to her neck, at first she thought it was coming from her, then realized that it was Hammershot. Worried,she looked down at him,and he knew what she was thinking. He wasn't doing well, and it was becoming quite apparent now-if he didn't get some help then the damage that had been done could become unrepairable...

'Hammer-'

'Holly,you have to go. leave this to me,I'll be alright'

'No! you wont! They'll kill you!'

"Holly...'

'I won't leave you! I won't let them-'

'You have no choice,you have to go to Megatron...'

'No...Not without you...'

Tears were rolling off of her face and lightly splattering onto the cool metalic chest of Hammershot,he sighed and gave a jerkish nod which looked more like a spasim-it was time for Holly to go,with or without him.

'You have to,we still need you..'

'No...'

'If death is my fate then so be it'

'But...Hammershot...'

He glared at her,his voice was sharp and harsh as he spoke to Holly,he knew that she would be going one way or another and this was better for her or so he thought.

'Stop crying over me, I won't miss you, after all you are only good to us for the code, other then that you are nothing to me.Now...Leave me to my fate'

Holly fell silent,arms dropping to her side-a call from Sideswipe went unnoticed until Thundercracker broke past the Autobots,he was getting out of there while he still could and he would be taking Holly with him. Without looking as if he cared much,Hammershot grabbed Holly in one hand before tossing her in the air. Thundercracker flew past just in time to catch the stunned girl in his cockpit-he then took off following the river away from the scene. The girl was quiet as she sat stooped over in the seat,for a few moments the Seeker thought that she had passed out but then she leaned back and looked out the window-her eyes puffy and face red. He needed to get her to calm down, he didn't know why Hammershot had said what he had, maybe he knew something the others didn't. In any case, it was now up to Thundercracker to take the girl to Megatron who was surely waiting by this point-and that was probably where Starscream was as well,the coward.

Once Thundercracker was out of sight,everyone looked at Hammershot,who let his arm flop back onto the ground and groaned darkly as if he thought all this was just annoying. Ironhide heaved his shoulders,raising his guns once more at the Decepticon he wasn't amused by that little act of drama and was glad that it was over.

'Where were we?'

'keh'

Hammershot couldn't form words any more,he had used too much energy in that last toss and now he really felt the effects of his wounds,cursing whoever had been the one to hit him first.

'Ironhide,stop!'

'grr...Now what'

Growling,clearly frusterated at all the interruptions that kept him from finishing Hammershot,Ironhide turned to see Optimus just transforming. How long had he been there? It would have been nearly easy for him to arrive and not be noticed during the whole human in the way scene. Optimus walked towards the group and sighed, Hammershot was barely concious but somehow managed to give a sound of resentment-he was aware enough to know that he wasn't going to die now though in his opinion that might be a bad thing.

'We won't kill Hammershot'

'Why not!'

Pomperous jumped infront of their leader,he wanted more then anything to see the end of Hammershot,and that girl had she remained there. Freeway and Amber moved aside,Amber was now as silent as Holly had been, she was trying to understand what she had heard-the meaning behind what had been said and why Hammershot had said those cruel words to Holly. Sideswipe,Sunstreaker and Prowl all stood back and watched as their leader was paying more attention to the wounded Decepticon then to them.

'Because despite his actions,he is still one of us and hasn't done anything that he deserves to die for'

'Other then nearly kill Scout!'

Pomperous objected but quickly shut up when he received a rather dark look from Optimus.

'A prisoner Prime? but, what-'

'I've seen all that I need to'

'All this because of the girl?'

'No,Pomperous. because Hammershot is going to help us'

The others weren't quite sure what Optimus ment by this, but none of them wanted to question their leader. Freeway nudged Amber to let her know that they were going,but Amber didn't move-she bowed her head and bit the side of her mouth as she let all the thoughts run through her mind. She knew what she had to do, and that the others weren't going to understand it either, but that wouldn't stop her. She dashed foreward,nearly running straight into Pomperous' leg, who didn't even bother to move as the human ran by,nor did he warn her about the curb and Amber fell foreward.

'Amber!?'

Freeway jumped foreward to help the girl but Amber didn't hear her.

'I'm staying with Hammershot.'


	27. Chapter TwentySix: No Good

Chapter 26: No Good

This waiting was annoying-Ali had all the luck, she was on a mission to try and...What was it again? Chris didn't know, not that he cared much but didn't want to be taken by any more surprises. With arms crossed over his chest,he scanned the room and frowned-there was no one there that he cared to start a conversation with. Giving up any hope of quinching his bordum he leaned against a wall and glanced to a corner, he was still upset from his earlier confrontation with Holly but now he began to feel a strange sensation at the back of his mind. No one had seen her since she left several hours earlier,he almost felt worried but at the same time he knew that she was probably alright,after all Hammershot had gone off to find her,which he probably had.

'Don't do anything stupid'

He growled inwardly as he knew how irrationaly Holly could get when she was upset, and given that he had told her very troubling news there was no telling what she would do. In away he felt guilty for upsetting her, but she had to know and it was better then having her find out on her own. Chris rolled his eyes and let his thoughts subside back into the darkness of his mind as he watched the two robots speaking on the other side of the room,he heaved and shook his head,why was Beatdown speaking in such low tones? It was only him and Soundwave in the room,but perhaps something had happened?

'Bah-'

He growled again. How much longer were they going to have to wait? Chris knew exactly who they were waiting for, but he hadn't been told why HE had been dragged into this meeting, after all he didn't want to be there and if it hadn't been for Holly's deal with Starscream, he probably wouldn't even be there to start with. Shrugging he really didn't bother to ask Beatdown as he figured that the Tundra would tell him eventually, though if things went the way Chris hoped they wouldn't,there may not be a chance to find out what was going on at all.

'What took you so long"

Soundwave's monotone voice broke Chris' quiet contemplation-turning his head slightly he saw that Thundercracker had just arrived and by his side was Holly. Why was she wet again? and where was Hammershot? Raising a brow,Chris decided he would have to find out what had happened and how it involved the seeker,though he wouldn't be too surprised if he was told she just went for a fly...Holly seemed to enjoy being around the jets more then any of the other Decepticons they had met thus far,oh well, at least she wasn't bugging him the whole time.

'We experienced a few complications but nothing I couldn't handle'

'Explain'

'Fine. Hammershot and I were ambushed by some of the Autobots...less then talented members. Who decided they were going to attack us for no other reason then...Actually I don't even know why they attacked us.'

Soundwave turned his head slightly as he took in the information,before he spoke again.

'What were the pair of you doing with the girl, and how did she leave the premises when she was grounded by Starscream?'

'She wanted to find something she thought she had lost long ago. I don't know if she ever found it as we were attacked then and I was the one who took her into town.'

Holly remained silent the whole time, she looked tired and run down-Chris noted that she refused to look him in the eyes,narrowing his own he came to the assumption that something bad must have happened, otherwise she probably wouldn't be acting as she did. He had known her long enough to know her emotions by simple body movements, and her lack of eye contact was one of the more serious actions she had.

'Hmmm'

he thought, but would wait to see if she got in trouble with Soundwave,though chances were Thundercracker would be the one who got it instead of her, he would have to explain to what interest he had in taking her out of the base.

Holly wasn't sure how she would be able to talk to Chris without him knowing that she was faking her way through everything at the moment, she also didn't know what he would think of her,she felt ashamed of how she had acted around him and wanted to apologize profoundly to him. She wanted to tell him everything,more so, she wanted to hear what his opinion on the whole matter was-maybe it would help her deal with some of the emotions surging through her. Holly didn't have to stand in silence for long as she soon found that it was Chris who approached her in conversation first, which honestly surprised her.

'Is it raining again or did you fall into a pot hole again?'

'A little of both'

Moving away from Thundercracker,Holly cleared her throat and glanced back to the seeker who pointedly was not looking at her-one would be hard pressed to get him to admit it, but on the way back to the base, he had managed to get the girl to laugh a little...by making fun of Starscream and in return she did the same. Holly still felt as if her head about to crack open but at least now she could manage to talk to people without bursting out in a fit of tears or uncoherent speach. Her barely present coordination was all but gone as proven when she nearly fell head first onto the floor, luckily she managed to catch herself before that could have happened.She straightened up quickly and looked up at Chris,biting her bottom lip for a few moments and looking more like she might burst into song and dance then talk to him.

'Listen,Chris,I'm so sorry for-'

'Don't worry about it'

'No,Really,I want to-"

'I understand. its fine'

'No,I-'

'Lord Megatron'

The pair looked up upon hearing Thundercracker's greeting, both tensed and glanced to each other with uncertainty as a very large silver robot walked into the room. Glaring at them all he growled before coming to a stop in the center of the room,where he could be certain no one would try and sneak up on him.

'I have been patient for as long as I can-but I am surrounded by incompatance as useual'

Chris glanced to Holly as she made a small noise,he didn't know if it was a squeel of excitement,a burp or some other random noise but he dared not ask as he didn't want to bring any attention to himself.

'But Lord Megatron, we have the girl and her full cooperation, she's even sacrificed her life and friends for us'

Beatdown spoke, it may have sounded like he was defending someone but it was his job to report his findings involving the human that held the key to victory.

'Do you have what I want?'

'No, but the girl-'

'Then you're useless! Where's the human?'

Megatron turned his head to where the two humans stood-Holly blinked a few times,resembling someone who looked like they had just stepped onto a podium in nothing but their birthday suit. Chris instantly knew that this guy was not to be left waiting and had a bad temper...a short one at that as well. He was not going to die because Holly decided to act like a statue, he nudged her foreward with a grunt,telling her to move to the leader.

'Go,to him'

he breathed, and was glad when Holly finally began to walk foreward. He had honestly expected Holly to squeel with excitement and hug Megatron's foot until he killed her, but for her to fall quiet and timid was not normal,but then again he figured it was probably due to the events prior to this.

'This should be interesting'

he thought,though hoped that Holly didn't do anything stupid that would result in having them both killed, he had thought it once and he would think it again, maybe it would be better if she just did what the Decepticons wanted...He knew that he would be able to find away to stay useful and with Beatdown around, there would be at least someone who would probably fight for him...

'You,human. Have you what it is that I need to destroy those blasted Autobots?'

' I do...the code...'

'Ah, yes. Now give it to me so that we may stop this stalling. Or are you going to be a deffiant little bug?'

Holly now stood at Megatron's side and truely felt her size for the first time since she found out her Hummer was an alien robot, and even as he was bowed slightly to eye the human properly he was still massive and could easily step on her and crush her without effort at all. Holly was terrified,she didn't like the feeling that now dominated her body and closed her eyes in an attempt to regain control-she knew that Megatron could also sense her fear and that would only put her in a bad light in his mind or so she thought. She wasn't told anything about the Decepticon leader,other then his name,but then again she had been under the first impression that Starscream had been the leader, though that thought was quickly disproven-and she was glad. Though as she took in deep breaths she found that under her fear was excitement, and did desperatly want to 'glomp' Megatron but knew better,for now...And inbetween all these mixed thoughts and emotions she found that her mind was thinking ahead of her own awareness,though wheither this was a good thing or not was yet to be seen.

'No.'

'What!?'

'I won't give you the code now'

'Then I should just crush you now, disgusting little-'

'I won't give you the code while there are so many around who could use it against you'

There was a pause, Megatron seemed to be processing what Holly had just said and a wicked smirk spread across his face,there was a sense of dread that filled the air but no one spoke or even moved.

'Yes, you have a well proven point...perhaps you could live as my pet after this'

'You are too gracious lord Megatron'

'heh'

Megatron turned away from Holly and glared at the others remaining-he was in no mood to deal with them or any of their annoying problems.

'Do not disturb me, should someone do so, they will lose their life...'

With that threat,Megatron walked the way he'd come, only pausing to make sure the girl was following as he didn't want to go back and drag the girl with him.

'Come,Pet'

Holly nodded and obediantly followed, smiling over her shoulder to Chris-who in return stared at her in disbelief, what was she doing!? He didn't understand her actions,but maybe she hadn't anticipated that she would be dragged off by Megatron for a one on one confrontation. Holly shrugged,but her real thoughts were hidden as the door slammed shut behind her,cutting her off from the others and probably any hope of excape if she some how managed to tick Megatron off.

Once they were gone,Soundwave took charge once again,turning his attention to his fellow comrades who looked just about as confused to what had just transpired as the human did.

'Thundercracker,Beatdown, got to your stations until further notice'

'Not that I have anywhere else to be'

Thundercracker commented as he gave a half hearted wave of his hand and walked out of the room. Leaving Beatdown who walked over to Chris and gave a nod as if to try and get the human to move as well,but Chris remained stationary,arms still crossed over his chest and his face unreadable.

'Your friend is a bigger fool then I thought...or very wise'

'Keh. With Holly, who knows'

'Hmmm'

Finally upon coming to a silent decision Chris moved out of the room, followed by his just as silent partner, they disappeared down the hall after Thundercracker. Chris wasn't quite sure what would happen next but at least he would be able to say he survived this meeting,which was more then he could say for his insane friend.

There was a short corridor before they entered another room, if Holly had to guess she would say that it was the equivilant of a human bedroom. She ignored the normal goofy thoughts she had due to being friends with Amber far too long, they were inapproporate for the situation and would only make her look more foolish then she already felt-that and anyone who would appreciate the comment wasn't present. She then went to wonder how she was going to deal with this, afraid of saying the wrong thing, or anything at all, as she had no idea what kind of temper Megatron had-would he be patient with her or would he try to force it out of her? Feeling her pulse begin to race,Holly was vaguely aware that they had both come to a stop,she felt like she was still walking,everything felt as if it were still moving-not a good sign, she didn't know what it ment though. She felt her body trembling violently under her,her legs felt as if they wanted to give out and somewhere she was feeling a muscle or two spasim under her now damp clothing. Megatron turned his full attention upon Holly, she felt her heart catch in her throat as he stared at her for a long while without speaking. So, maybe this wasn't the best of her ideas, now that she was alone with the leader of the Decepticons,she no longer felt that slight sense of security she had back in the other room with Chris and the others. No one else was there to distract Megatron or even protect her in a way if she should cause his anger to flare up and give him the desire to end her life. Her eyes sweeped the room and as she thought of a way to calm herself, she tried to look as if taking in the room, really she was trying to find a place she could hide if she had to,she hoped not though. Though the room wasn't much to look at and was cold steel all around her,Holly found it oddly homey,and thought that if she some how managed to get herself out of this then if she were to be a pet she would be living in this room. She didn't know, but as she thought about it, her mind went instantly to Hammershot, and instantly her mood dropped again...she sighed and lowered her eyes...

Megatron took a step towards the girl,in an attempt to intimidate her but she didn't move, this was annoying-he didn't want to try and play stupid games with the human. He just wanted the code and to despose of those weak pathetic fools who opposed him...

'Give me the code'

He demanded suddenly,his voice amplified by the acustics of the walls-Holly slowly looked up at the face of the one who was surely going to kill her...

'Now were did I put that...'

Devon sat in the middle of what looked to be a junk yard inside of Grimlock's home, large pieces of metal littered the ground around him and from somewhere at the bottom of a pile, a soft beeping noise could be heard.

'No,no,no, none of this will do'

he muttered, tossing a large battery of some sort over his shoulder-Devon looked like he had not slept in days, and given his five o'clock shadow, he probably hadn't slept.

'I know its in here somewhere...I just saw it last week'

Devon stood up quickly and let out a loud growl of frusteration, he had never lost something so completely before in his life and he felt fairly certain that it was an important artifact that probably shouldn't be lost.

'Me,Grimlock,say what Dev-bot doing?'

'I'm looking for...GRIMLOCK!'

His eyes widened as if he hadn't seen the dinobot before in his life.

'Have you seen it?'

'Dev-bot make no sense'

'I know you have, I think you have...yes...'

'Me no,no what it is that i have seen that I haven't seen'

Devon didn't even seem to faulter as his mind raced even as he listened to Grimlock's confused statement.

'You know...That thing...its like...a rectangle with a shiney orb in the middle'

Devon tried to show Grimlock the shape and size of what he was talking about by using hand gestures but it didn't do anything but make the dinobot think that the human had completly lost his mind.

'It was here! I know it was...I'm not going senile...yet'

Devon needed the artifact because as he had been reading over the old book again, he had come across several symbols he had seen somewhere before, and for some reason was under the impression it had to do with the artifact that he was looking for.

'Its important...but why..'

Growing impatient with the human,Grimlock swung his tail around and disturbed a pile of rubbish,as he decided he wanted to go out for a walk instead of being stuck inside any longer, they had been there all week.

'Me Grimlock want to go see other bots'

'Not now'

'Yes now'

Devon seemed unaware of what was about to happen, only when Grimlock's tail came crashing down inches from his face,did he realize that the dinobot really wanted to go to the Autobot base. Dropping the small item he had in his hands,Devon sighed and heaved his shoulders-perhaps taking a break would do him good. He had been driving himself nuts,and who knew,perhaps the Autobots might actually be some help...but that was doubtful, they were too busy in their own little worlds to take note that he and Grimlock were off doing their own thing...not that either of them really cared. A small visit would be nice though-climbing over a pile,Devon began to move away from his junk and yawned widely.

'I wonder what Amber's been up to...heh'

he had to chuckle as he thought of what kind of trouble his friend was giving the Autobots,and wished he could be there to laugh at them as they tried to get her to stop.

'At least she hasn't blown up any more mountains'

he added to Grimlock as they walked down the corridor that lead out of the home,Grimlock muttered something before deciding he wanted to bring sme fish along to get the others to try-which could turn out to be an amusing sight to behold. Hopefully they were at the base, and not out doing...whatever it was they were up to.


	28. Chapter TwentySeven: Fighting All Reason

Chapter 27: Fighting All Reason.

It was almost too good to be true,he could actually think without being interrupted by someone or something going wrong. Ratchet stood with his back to the door, grateful for the peace and quiet-maybe finally he could work on fixing that one thing he'd been meaning to get around to. With a nod to no one in particular,he decided to take another look over his patients-they were all coming along nicely but some where still far from functioning at their full effecancy. Ratchet shifted his weight and picked up a clipboard type object,what he had on it was hard to decipher as it looked like words run together to form solid strips of black lines across it.

'No,no,this way-'

'Stop it, he's heavy!'

'Nah, you're just weak'

'Grah! Swipe,Wha...guuu'

'Enough! Both of you!'

The air was shattered by the loud and excited voices of Sunstreaker,Sideswipe and followed by Prowl's annoyed bark in a vain attempt to get the pair to stop goofing off.

'What in the name of-'

Ratchet turned to face the door just as what looked like a mass of bodies stumbled through it-It took the medic a moment to realize that it was the twins,each with an arm strewn around their shoulders. They were half carring and more then half dragging a larger form-Unceremonisally they dropped it atop of one of the spare empty tables in the room. They then stepped away, looking like they had just been tainted or their paint was chipped,their job was done and they really could care less what would happen to the one they dragged in.

Surprise followed by confusion filled the medic's face-what were his comrades doing dragging a slagging Decepticon into his medic bay? Moving over to the table where Hammershot laid,Ratchet hoped that someone would offer him an explination as to what was going on. Missing Ratchet's look,Prowl was watching the twins with a hint of distain on his face as they slid past him and quickly dashed out of the room, free of their duty and able to enjoy the rest of the night again.

'Why is there a Decepticon on my table?'

Ratchet asked jarring Prowl's attention away from the Lambergini twins.

'He's our prisoner'

'what?'

'Prime says that he'll be a key in learning what the Decepticons are up to'

'Okay...But why is he in my medical bay?'

Ratchet seemed to understand half of what was happening,but surely hoped that no one expected him to do what he was starting to suspect.

'Does Prime expect met to repair the traitor?'

'Yes'

'There's no way-not even a chance-I'm not going to-'

'Fix him!'

The girl's voice cut through Ratchet's speach,looking down he saw that Amber had snuck in during all the fuss the twins had made, she was standing close to the table where they had placed the Decepticon and looking upwards,she had removed all wrapping around her head so it now looked as if she were actually glaring up at him.

'I can't'

His reply seemed to have touched a nerve with the girl as she let out a long growl and her eyes narrowed into slits. And thoughs he was still blind, she could easily fool someone into thinking she wasn't as her face darkened and a deep scowl etched itself across the rest of her face.

'You CAN'T or you WON'T, there is a big difference-and it comes down to how selfish a person is being. I'm tired of being told by people that they CAN'T do something-YOU have both your arms functional,a working body,your head's on straight...on period...I don't see any reason why you CAN'T repair him. He needs it badly and I know that if it hadn't been for you bloody uptight,self-serving,rightious Autobots-Hammershot would still be alright and YOU wouldn't be put in this situation. But he's not okay, he needs fixing and even if you were to refuse him then to lock him in a dungeon in this condition would only be cruel. Now, if you were any REAL medic, you would help him despite the fact he is your enemy'

Amber had to take a few moments to catch her breath as she had rattled off her rant in probably under a minute. Ratchet looked to Prowl who shook his head and heaved-

'She's been like this the whole way back'

He informed the medic. Sighing Ratchet looked back to the girl, for a human she sure did seem to have a mouth big enough to catch the attention of even the biggest bots.

'Alright. Alright. I'll repair him...If I can.'

Amber's expression didn't change but this was a better answer then she expected and it would have to do.

'LET ME AT 'IM!'

Jazz came flying through the door, followed by Blaster and Blurr but all came to a stop as Prowl moved into their path. Which probably wasn't the brightest of ideas as all three collided and tumbled into Prowl which resulted in all of them crashing to the floor.

'Ouch-'

'Get off me!'

'I can't, Blaster'

'Getyour foot out of my face'

'Mylegmylegmyleg!'

Blurr had managed to evaid most of the tangled mess though his foot was trapped under Blaster who wasn't doing much to releave the weight upon them both. Everyone was trying to move at the same time and only getting more tangled-it was quite funny had things not been on such a sour note before hand. Finally Ratchet had had enough, he knew that if he were to get any work done then everyone would have to leave. He pulled Jazz to his feet, who in turn helped Blaster and Blurr but let Prowl stand on his own.

'Are you alright?'

'Ye-ah'

There was a pause,it seemed like everyone wanted to rush foreward again but were afraid of getting caught in another mess or worse getting smacked by a frusterated Ratchet.

'We heard that slaggin' Traitor was 'ere!'

Jazz spke up, moving a little as he tried to look around Prowl who stood in his direct line of sight of Hammershot.

'And we wanted to-'

'If you touch him, you'll be going against a direct order from Optimus'

Prowl informed gruffly. The three intruders glanced to each other, as much as they wanted to go to the Decepticon, they also didn't want to disobey Optimus. Amber growled some more, she knew why at least two of them where there-Jazz wanted to get some sort of vengence for what Hammershot had done to Scout over a week ago, Blaster was probably confused and wanted to know what the hell the Decepticon thought he was doing, and poor Blurr had probably just been dragged along by one of the other two. Frusterated,Amber moved away from the table and foreward, using the voices as her guide,though she had no idea where they were or if she was even going in the right direction.

'Blaster! You inconciderate-jump to conclusions-boxy-out dated-music making-Jerk!'

Amber declared and was satisfied as she heard the sounds of those around being confused and paying attention to her.

'Why should you get to see Hammershot without consulting him-Maybe he doesn't want to see you, why should YOU get to do things without asking first? Stop jumping to conclusions, you should learn to ask people stuff first, especially when it directly involves them. Like, how dare you not even ASK me if I wanted to talk to Hammershot-Maybe I did. Maybe its your fault all this has happened. Instead you just went ahead and ignored another beings opinion and only thought of yourself. I don't care if it was Megatron who contacted you looking for me, I would at least appreciate the chance to given a choice. I would expect you to have the decency to at least ASK me if I wanted to talk to him-Maybe I would! For some sort of advanced alien species, you really are primitive and self centered in the way you think'

Again Amber took a moment to catch herself but continued on before she could be interrupted, turning her words towards Jazz,

'My Car! You think You're the only one who cares about what happens to him? I'm just as upset about it, if not more-my car keeps getting crushed! But its up to him if he wants to have anything ill happen to Hammershot for that or not. Let him deal with it, you'll only make things worse-stay out of his business!'

She paused, her rant at Jazz wasn't as long as her other two but she didn't care, she now brought her attention to Blurr-he'd not done anything to merrit him a rant, so she wouldn't him the oppertunity to do or say anything that would give her a reason to.

'You! No speaky!'

'What?'

'No,nowgogogo-All of you!'

Her voice had been softer but quicker while talking to Blurr but as she directed her comment to all of the others it became much more serious. Walking blindly she gave the hand gestures as if shooing them all out, but paused as the air again was shattered by loud laughter. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe broke into the room once again, only to come to a sudden hault as they saw the crowd. Amber growled and waved her arms faster,just wanting everyone to go away.

'You two,outoutout,no causing trouble!'

She spoke as quickly as she had done while talking to Blurr-everyone was slightly startled by the fact that they were being chewed out and ordered around by a five foot nothing human.

'Whats...'

'OUT!'

Ratchet bellowed finally, he'd gotten fed up with the group who was treating his medic bay like it was some sort of party room.

'Everyone out-lets go'

He had the force and size to push everyone out, ignoring the muttering of protests and united groans as a few of them still tried to argue their case. Finally they all squeezed out the door, but it was almost certain that they would return later. Maybe not all together, but one by one which would be even more annoying. Prowl was the last one to leave, he gave a sigh and looked ready to hide himself away in a secure room where no one could bother him for a long time. He would stop by later to see how things were coming along. Ratchet was glad for the silence again and turned around only to spot that Amber still remained where she had.

'That means you Too'

'no'

'No?'

'I'm not leaving Hammershot'

'You'll get in the way'

'No I won't'

Ratchet tried to analize what reason the girl would have to want to stay with the Decepticon,who had nearly killed Scout-and came up with the conclusion that it probably had something to do with her friend's connection to him. Not wanting to argue any more,Ratchet decided to drop the topic and he glanced to where his new patient laid,unmoving and looking dead.

'Alright,you can stay as long as you stay quiet'

Amber simply nodded and then turned her head from side to side,

'Turn around and go straight, you'll be in a good spot'

She nodded again and did as directed-soon finding a place to sit down where she was out of the way but still close enough to Hammershot. Ratchet then returned his attention to the Hummer, it was going to be a Long night.

As Amber sat with nothing else to do but listen to the sounds of Ratchet repairing Hammershot,she took the time to collect her thoughts. Still she had no idea what had happened with Holly, but she knew her friend was upset, it wasn't hard to tell when something was truely troubling Holly. And what Hammershot had said to her hadn't helped,there was no doubt in Amber's mind that it had shattered Holly's heart and sent her even deeper into what ever mess her own mind was in. Why had the Hummer even said that? She wanted to know, perhaps,it was a way to get Holly to shut up? She didn't know, but what bothered her more then knowing how hurt Holly now was, was not knowing if Hammershot had ment what he had said or noth. Feeling her mood drop,she would have to bring it up with the hummer once he was concious again-she needed to have a 'good' talking to him, then she would have to worry about dealing with that blasted Holly-neither conversation held any promise and Amber really didn't want to go through the trouble of it all but knew that if she didn't then no one would, and who knows what would happen then. And unfortunatly Amber cared,probably too much,but it was the way she was.

After a few hours Amber doozed off into a light sleep, she would probably not get any once Hammershot was fully functional once more...the days ahead looked to be more of a headache then anything...and the war...was the last thing on her mind...


	29. Chapter TwentyEight: Flee!

Chapter 28: Flee!

Megatron was obviously growing increasingly impatient as Holly stood before him trying to calm her mind enough for her to concintrate on the code-it was hard to think straight with all the emotions she felt and Holly had never been any good at thinking on her feet. She wasn't stupid, either rash or needed time to think her plans through,not have someone demand something from her on the spot.

'Well? I'm losing my patience'

Megatron growled, and hadn't the girl held the key he desperatly needed, he would have already killed her.

'I'm sorry lord Megatron, I was just awed by your greatness, I'll tell you the code now'

Holly,didn't know what else to do-Jen had told her not to,something about the code having another purpose,so if she told Megatron and something happened it would be her fault for not telling him. And at the same time, if she didn't tell him...well, she didn't know what her punishment would be, but she really didn't have alot of options in this situation-she decided that telling him was probably her only chance of getting out of this alive. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes like she was writing the code in her mind and nodded,

' The code is...'

'Scritch,Scratch,Scrutch'

The odd noise caused Holly to instantly stop, what was that? She saw that even Megatron was uncertain to what the sound was but he did know where it was coming from-he swiftly moved to the door,annoyed and angery at being interrupted after he had instructed not to be-whoever was on the other side was about to find themselves looking into the face of death.

Opening the door with a soft swish,the intruder was revealed,stumbling in was a very familiar form-one that made even Holly growl in disgust.

'Starscream-What is the meaning of this?'

'Lord Megatron! I have some trouble news that-'

'Why are you sneaking around the door to my private quarters?'

'I had to tell you at once...'

Starscream was back to his feet, moving back down the corridor that lead to the first room, knowing better then to turn his back to the enraged Megatron.

'You made your last mistake,Starscream'

'W...Wait...lord Megatron...you don't understand...'

'I understand plenty'

'No, you need to know it involves'

'Spare me your excuses'

They were now in the first room once more but neither seemed to have really noticed this-Holly had followed,she didn't know what had caused her to do so,maybe she was curious to see what would happen and maybe she just didn't want to stand around in that other room on her own? Either way, she moved towards the other exit to the room,giving the two Decepticons as much room as she possibly could, the last thing she wanted was to get caught in whatever they would do. Her mind wandered to the real reason for Starscream's intrusion,it almost seemed too well timed,almost like he had planned the distraction to keep Megatron from killing the girl-though she suspected that Starscream had other motives for his actions,and they probably had to do with the code as well. As Starscream tried to reason with Megatron,he pressed his back against a wall,and his weasling only seemed to annoy and enfuriate the other even more.

'Enough!'

Megatron growled, he brought his arms together to form a large gun-Starscream realized that this time he had no where to go and that nothing he said would keep Megatron from attacking him. In a vain attempt to get away, he scrambled to one side, but at that moment the air was shattered by the sound of the gun being set off-everything seemed to disintergrate infront of him. The room was filled with smoke and flames as the blast from Megatron's gun had pretty much torn the room in half-Holly screamed as she dodged falling depris and managed to make it out of the exit before a wall of smoke hit her and caused her to tumble across the ground a few feet. Terrified,she sprung to her feet and ran, she didn't even know that she was doing it until she could feel the chill night air hitting her lungs-and it was at that moment that she knew that going back probably wouldn't be a good idea,though running was worse. Panic filled her face as she thought of what Megatron would do to her for running, if he was willing to obliterate one of his generals, he wouldn't lose any time in destroying her-this was bad, real bad, and things were just getting worse. She had to keep moving, maybe,just maybe if she could find a place to rest her head she could come up with a plan...maybe she could try and explain to Megatron that she was scared? No,that wouldn't look too good on her behalf. Perhaps if she said she hit her head and momentarily forgot where she was? That might work...but she would have to chose her wording very carefully and apparently her lying skills had gone down,as she had discovered earlier that day...what was she going to do? She was running blindly now, how long would it be before Megatron noticed that she was missing? Probably not that long,but maybe he would think that she was hiding some place nearby? Maybe the smoke had provided her with some much needed cover? She didn't know, but she did know that she was on the very verge of a mental breakdown...

'I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!'

She gasped in between breaths,despite the fact she felt her muscles aching painfully and her lungs burned, she couldn't allow herself to stop,it would only give them the chance to figure out that she was fleeing for her life and catch her. Whimpering,Holly nearly slid onto her side, only seeing the other end of the hall-she didn't even acknowledge the fact that she wasn't alone in it.

Chris stopped and lept to one side as he heard the sudden noise behind him, watching a body fly past him, he realized that it was Holly and that she wasn't stopping to talk to him-wait..why was Holly running? His mind moved quickly, and then his eyes widened as he realized that he was in trouble-Holly would only seriously run if she felt that she had to,and given where they were,he concluded that she certainly had a reason to run...as did he.

'Oh...SHIT!'

Chris dashed after Holly and easily managed to match pace with her-he growled angerly and eyeballed her for a few moments, she glanced at him a few times as well-they both knew what the other was thinking.

'What did you do?'

'NOTHING! ABSOLUTLY NOT A DAMN THING! ITS NOT MY FAULT!'

'Shsss-Then why are you running like someone's about to turn you into a tube of toothpaste?'

'BECAUSE...BECAUSE...MEGATRON IS SUPER PISSED!'

'Ouch-Oh really'

Holly was now panting loudly,talking while running at this pace was not one of her talents,it was taking too much precious energy just to think straight,and even then she was having trouble doing that. The pair saw that the hall broke into a 'T-bone' shape, they would have to go either left or right...

'I HATE HIM!'

'Shut up'

'NO! WE'RE GOING TO DIE AND ITS ALL STA-'

'Holly! Shut up!'

Chris growled, Holly's bellowing was only going to get them caught. Rolling his eyes, until she had calmed down, trying to find out what had happened to cause this would be impossible,especially since Holly had a problem controlling her voice at the moment. Deciding that he wasn't going to die for this,Chris dashed down the left hall without even a word to his friend.

'HEY-WHA-WHERE-'

Holly was watching where Chris was going, not bothering to slow down and seemed unaware of how close the wall was until she hit it and was sent crashing back onto her tail bone and doing a backwards roll.

'OUCH!'

She shook her head and looked confused,almost like she wondered where the wall had come from,but then remembered what she was doing and why she had come to get very 'close and personal' with the wall.

'HEY-GET BACK HERE!'

Holly jumped to her feet and began to chase after Chris, again ignoring the screaming from her body as she did her best to catch up to Chris,but he was much faster then her and kept putting distance between them everytime she got close.

'Go away!'

'NO!'

'Fuck Off!'

'NO!'

Chris was pissed, damn,Holly wasn't sappoused to be following him-she was sappoused to either be caught or run in the opposite direction, not trail after him and bring attention to him and where they were going.

'YOU KNOW THE WAY OUT!'

Holly accused as she again began to close the gap between her and Chris, this was not going to do, he would have to try and lose her some how, and luckily he had more stamina then her so he knew it wouldn't take long.

'No, I don't'

'YES!'

'I'm trying to get away from you!'

He declared,hoping she would catch a hint, he then took another sharp corner and dashed out the open doors but found that he had to force himself into a sudden hault.

'Shit!'

He slipped on some mud and fell back upon his rump,but managed to save himself from slamming the back of his head into the ground by catching his fall with his hands.

'CHRIS!!'

Holly wheeled around the corner and out the open door as well-but her reflexes weren't as well toned as Chris' and she ended up running past him a few feet before tripping over something,somersaulting through the air and landing roughly on her right elbow. She screamed in pain and rolled onto her back, starring up through blurry eyes at what she had run into-she gasped, she had landed at the feet of Beatdown.

'Don't kill me, I'm sorry'

'Pathetic'

Chris growled at Holly's whimpy plee for mercy. Beatdown looked confused as to what the humans were doing and why they had come bursting out of the base like it was on fire or something else life threatening had happened. Holly rolled onto her side and craddelled her arm,Chris on the other hand watched Beatdown carefully-not certain what to make of the Tundra's sudden appearance after all this. Why hadn't he alerted the others that he had found the humans-either the alarm hadn't been risen by Megatron or Beatdown just didn't care.

'What are you two doing?'

The Tundra asked,taking a step back from the pair and glancing between the humans then to the base entrance and back again.

'Holly's gone and done something stupid'

'Beatdown...can you take us some place?'

'Like he's going to just take us some where after all this has happened?'

Chris rolled his eyes again as he stood up, his palms stung but at least he wasn't in a worse condition.

'He might'

'Why would he?'

Beatdown watched the humans argue, he didn't know exactly what was going on but if they wanted his help then they would have to hurry up and ask before someone who did know what was going on showed up.

'Because he's a powerful,strong,unbeatable,cool-'

'Stop sucking up to my Tundra'

'I'm not sucking up to him'

'you ...Never mind. Beatdown, will you take us someplace...erm...where we can be safe until Holly calms down?'

Beatdown's expression never changed, there was almost no real reason for him to agree-he had a feeling that by doing so he would be setting himself up to be on Megatron's list of those to be destroyed, but at the same time he really didn't care about Megatron and could see that there would be at least one way of getting what he wanted from this bizarre situation.

'Where do you want to go?'

Chris glanced to Holly, she was biting her bottom lip and trying to think of a place they could hide that the Decepticons probably didn't know about.

'Devon!'

'What?'

'Devon will put us up and and and no one knows where he lives'

'If no one knows where he lives, how are you going to get there'

Beatdown asked with a slight smirk,he knew that's not what the girl ment but if he was going to go through all this trouble then he could harrase the human at least a little. Holly shook her head, hair flying in all directions as she pushed herself up with her good arm and looked frusterated.

'I'll tell you how to get there. But please...please do this...I...I have the code...but...'

'I don't care about that blasted code,its a waste of time and Megatron is a fool to be chasing after it. He doesn't even know what it really does or means,why should I be bothered with something that is wasting my time and would probably lead to my own demise.'

The humans glanced to each other, this came as a surprise even for Chris who had thought he had just figured out the Tundra's motives for doing what he had, or lack of action in most cases. Heaving his shoulders,Beatdown transformed to get his point across to the two humans,wasn't time a precious thing to them? They sure did like to waste alot of it when they technically didn't have it.

'Get in'

He ordered, holding both his front doors open for the humans to climb ing.

'So, you're going to help us?'

Holly looked hopeful as she moved towards the truck-Chris however,didn't look so ready to trust Beatdown,shifting his weight he tried to understand what the Decepticon was really up to.

'C'mon Chris!'

'Holly-Wait..'

Pausing,Holly was half in the truck when Chris had called to her, she didn't know what his problem was and in her current state she didn't see the logic behind Chris' concern either.

'Do you two want to go or not. Because I will hand you BOTH over to Megatron if you don't'

Chris still didn't look like he wanted to go with Beatdown but he wanted to be killed by Megatron less. Deciding,living and facing an unknown fate was better then walking straight into a death sentence. He moved quickly to the truck and glared at Holly in a manner that said that he blamed her for everything and that if they were killed that he would make her afterlife hell.

'Let's go!'

Holly muttered,getting in but not looking at Chris as Beatdown spun around and drove down the path that lead away from the Decepticon base-he wasn't speeding nor moving in a manner that would look suspecious should anyone spot him.

They had soon made it away from the base and still there was no alert sent out to the Decepticons about the girl going missing or anything,nor was there even a word as to what had happened. Chris was growing ever more uneasy, it was almost as if they were being allowed to escape,and he didn't know if it was just the lack of security there seemed to be or travelling with Beatdown or a mixture of both. What was going on? Perhaps they still didn't realize that Holly was gone? Doubtful. Then maybe whatever that had happened was taking up all the Decepticon's attention,or at least those who were at the base? Who knew and Chris was too tired to try and figure it out.

Holly slumped against the window,her hurt arm resting against her front,slowly she pulled her knees up to her chest,apparently she was feeling a little more at ease then Chris was. Unfortunatly this wasn't helping him, he narrowed his eyes at her,he wanted to tell her off but kept those words back for now-she was upset and didn't need to be yelled at for doing something stupid.

'Where's your blasted Hummer?'

He asked,wondering if they would be able to meet up with Hammershot and have him as back up or not. He also wanted to see if Holly would open up to him and start talking about what had happened that day, he hated it when she was quiet,well upset quiet anyways. Holly slipped her head down so that her forehead rested ontop of her knees, her hair fell over her shoulders and face-it was a few long moments later that she spoke.

'Dead'

She said in a monotone voice. There was a long pause of silence in the cab,even Beatdown seemed surprised by this news,though he wasn't too certain how much of it he believed as the girl had said Hammershot was dead before and he showed up a little worse for the wear,but alive. Chris then frowned, and nodded to himself, this would explain alot of Holly's odd behavior,and make dealing with her later more difficult.

'How do you know, maybe he's just hurt?'

'Because...I was there...I saw...the Autobots...they ganged up on him'

'They What!?'

Holly shrugged slightly and the conversation dropped there. Chris fell into his own heavy thoughts now, he had to figure out a way out of this mess, and stay alive at the same time,he also had to find away to make the Autobots pay for what they had done to Holly...some good guys, they seemed to be acting more like the bad robots then the Decepticons had thus far...but perhaps thats what the plan was all along? He didn't know...sighing, he wished Ali was there, she would be able to offer him some more infomation and maybe give him more to ponder over.

'Devon better have a way to fix Holly,or she's as good as dead'

he thought as he stared out the window as the dark highway whipped past him and he reconized where they were going,however,it was further from town but at the same time something didn't feel right about this...


	30. Chapter TwentyNine: Waking The Dead

Chapter 29: Waking The Dead

WARNING: There is some Cussing near the end of the chapter,I appologize if it offends anyone. Thank you

''I can't save your life,though nothing I bleed is more tormenting. I'm losing my mind and you just stand there as my world devides...'

Her mind stirred as the soft music reached her unconcious mind, pulling at it until she was aware of the sound. Slowly she opened her eyes, how long had she been out of it? A better question, yet,was, where did the music come from? Amber shifted her weight and toppled sideways upon the cold floor-she'd forgotten that she had been sitting on the floor in the medical room. A strange chuckling filled her ears as the music stopped,pushing herself up right again, Amber saw the owner of both the chuckling and the music. Sitting beside her,cross legged was Curtis who waved then winced in pain, apparently he wasn't fully healed.

'Hey you-I thought you had gone and died on us, I've been trying to wake you for hours. Devon and that dinosaur guy were here but that was almost a day ago now, or was it two? I don't remember! Anyways, I was told that you were in here with the Hummer and...'

'Curtis-'

'yes!?'

'Shut up!'

Amber tried to cover his face with her hand but had miscalculated the distance and nearly fell foreward once more,she hated being blind.

'Careful! So...uh...hmmmm'

Curtis glanced around the room,Ratchet had scurried off somewhere,leaving the room fairly empty and quiet aside from its useual sounds of machines whizzing and whirling from some place.Amber shook her head, well she still couldn't see but the crushing darkness she had seen previous seemed to be fading, if only a little.

'Is he...'

She began,Curtis didn't need to be told that she was referring to Hammershot and that she was probably worried if he as still amongst the living. Looking grim for a moment before realizing that Amber couldn't see it anyways and let his face relax once more, he took in a deep breath before answering,at least he could make it as dramatic sounding as possible.

'Amber...Holly's Hummer...Is just fine'

'Curtis!'

Amber swung a fist out and was pleasantly surprised to feel that it connected with Curtis' shoulder, this time she had been able to gauge the distance and had enough force behind her swing that it should have hurt. Curtis yelped,she had hit him in one of his still tender bruises on his arm-well he did deserve it for trying to make her think the worst. He then chuckled and stood to his feet,letting his left arm hang limpy in the sling that was wrapped around his neck, well one good thing came from having Amber not able to see-she wouldn't be able to cause him more pain by fooling around with his sling or anything, he just had to remind himself to becareful of where to stand when she got upset. He shoved his I-pod away in a pocket,he had been blaring in hopes that it would stir his friend, and it had,so he no longer needed it.

'They're on their way to take him to a holding cell now that he's been repaired and stable and all that medical mumbo jumbo'

Curtis informed Amber, and recieved a long growl from her-she understood that it had been the plan all along but she would still hold her vigil by Hammershot's side and would keep anyone who wanted to 'talk' to him away,at least until after she had had a chance to talk to him.

'Bullies'

'Who?'

Curtis looked confused but got no explination. Amber frowned as she slowly stood to her feet, it would have been nice to talk to him before they locked him away but at the same time it would be easier for a private conversation if they were in a more secure area and here they would have people running in and out,not to mension those who were being repaired were still around. Amber was annoyed, she had slept longer then she would have liked to but it had been the first time in a few weeks that she had managed to sleep for a long period of time undisturbed,though it wasn't a restful one, not while she had to deal with the whole Hammershot/Holly issue.

'How are the others?'

She asked suddenly,trying to kill time before someone showed up to drag Hammershot away.

'Liane and Crusher were the first two up-they've been carted off someplace, probably for questioning and the like. I think Bee and Scout are still here,they took alot of damage'

'Uh...yea...'

Amber had been about to comment about how Scout always found away to get himself crushed or blown up when the door to the medical room slid open and in entered Ratchet,Ironhide,Prowl,Jazz and Optimus-they didn't seem to take much note of the two standing humans.

'Do you think he'll actually tell us anything useful?'

Jazz asked,unable to hide the slight tone of bitterness towards having to harbor the traitor as he still wanted to at least punch the Decepticon but hadn't been able to find a chance to sneak back there to do so since he was told off by the human.

'I don't care as long as you get him out of my medic bay'

Ratchet replied before the others had a chance, he was just as unhappy about the whole thing as the others were-it was now common knowledge amongst the Autobots that Hammershot was there. He then picked something up and moved over to the Decepticon to check him over once more before he would allow the others to take him away.

'Its hard to tell with Hammershot, but we won't be able to tell anything until he's concious'

Optimus said as he moved to the opposite side of the table,Ironhide moved closer to Ratchet as he already knew what was planned-unlike the other two who weren't sure just yet. He glared down at Hammershot and huffed heavily,though his thoughts weren't as apparent as Jazz's had been.

'You want to do this now,Prime?'

'What if he wakes up? Don't you think he'll start resisting us?'

'That's a risk I'm willing to take'

Optimus replied to Jazz's and Ironhide's comments. Ratchet nodded,and moved out of the way, Hammershot was stable to be transported and indeed it wouldn't take too much to wake him.

'Prowl,Jazz,keep our path clear of any on lookers-Ironhide and I'll be carring Hammershot'

'Right'

The others replied, moving to their positions. Amber suddenly stepped forth, she was not about to be left behind.

'You're not taking Hammershot anywhere without me'

Amber declared, Curtis narrowed his eyes and saw the annoyed looks on both Ironhide and Prowl's faces.

'Amber, we can't have you getting hurt if Hammershot does wake up and decide he's going to try and break free-we'll transport him down then come back for-'

'No'

Amber growled and took several more steps foreward, she had proven that she wasn't afraid to tell the robots off and Optimus,even as the leader,was no exception to this.

'I said I wasn't leaving Hammershot's side and I mean it and as soon as we get down there, no one will talk to him'

She felt Curtis at her side, he placed his good hand on her shoulder but she moved away from him,she didn't want to be touched at the moment. Optimus looked like he didn't know what to say to the girl, but he was sure that whatever he did say would probably get her upset and set her off,humans were so much more complex to deal,especially this one.

'Fine. If it makes you feel better you can go with Prowl, But I will be the first to talk to Hammershot'

Prowl rolled his head slightly and began to move towards the girl before he was even told,he didn't want to be put in charge of baby sitting duty but also knew that the pair carring the hummer would be dealing with him and couldn't be distracted by the human. Amber stepped back and growled angerly, she hated the way they were treating her like she was an inferier species and were looking down on her.

'No. Don't you understand me? No one's talking to him before me, then maybe if he feels like talking to any of you...'

'Don't be silly girl, he may hold important-'

'Out of everyone, I'm the one he'll be more willing to talk to, not that any of you even care!'

She growled angerly, Optimus hummed loudly, the girl had a point but at the same time he didn't feel comfortable with the idea. Prowl glanced from Optimus to Amber and back again, he went to say something, thought about it and shut his mouth once more without making a noise.

'Fine.'

'Wait...what...Prime?'

'Ironhide, she has a point,Hammershot might trust her given her connection with Holly'

There was a pause again,Ratchet huffed loudly and raised his arms in exasperation.

'Are you going or not? I have other things to do and you're all in my way'

'Yes, we're going'

Prowl resumed his march to Amber and kneeled down,Curtis moved so that he could help his friend over to the taction. Amber growled and wished that her eyesight would return,she hated feeling like some sort of-

'Lift'

There was a blur of movement, Hammershot groaned as he was hoisted up between Optimus and Ironhide. They all began to leave the room behind, Jazz led the way followed by the pair carring Hammershot and with Prowl taking up the rear-they were moving slower due to the weight they now carried and they didn't want to cause the Con they were escorting to have reason to snap awake and start attacking them...

Twelve minutes later they had finally reached the dimly light holding cells,Hammershot was concious but confused and had decided best to keep quiet for now as he didn't know what was going to happen. The pair carring him left him slumped against a wall before locking him in one of the cells, it was a large room but the door was secured by a large metal door that seemed to eminate an electrical heat. Amber was now on the ground again, Prowl remained with Optimus as Jazz and Ironhide had gone back up to return to their various duties,now that they weren't all that needed.

'Let me in'

Amber said to Optimus looking as if she was starring off into space. Shaking his head,Optimus didn't want to take the chance that Hammershot would do something to hurt the human,not that he really thought that he would but he was still a Decepticon and he didn't want to take that risk,though he had a feeling that no matter what he said to the girl, she wasn't going to accept what he had to say.

'Its too dangerous'

'No its not. I can handle myself'

'I don't want him to do something to you that will force my hand'

'Listen...I NEED to be in there to talk to him'

'Amber...'

'For someone who is all about freedom and species right to chose their own path, you sure do treat us like we are inferior beings. Don't tell me its for our own good, that you're helping by protecting us. That its too dangerous, isn't that part of life? Learning from one's mistakes, and finding out on their own what is dangerous? Pushing their own bonderies and learning from expereince, how can anyone do so when you won't even let them go down a hall without wanting to know what their thinking. Your no different from Megatron, you act like you care but you really are being a tyrant by not allowing me to go about my own business, that goes for all you Autobots,always looking over my shoulder to see what I'm up to. Like you don't trust me? Do you really think I'm going to do anything to you? What possible motives do I have to sabbatoge you? You know, I've made it through twenty four years of my life without having you worrying that I'm gonna scrab a knee or something...Just...Back off and let me in that damned cell!'

Amber had balled her hands into fists while talking to Optimus, so far she had been awake less then an hour and already she had ranted at one of the robots. Optimus sighed heavily, and after a few moments of contemplation he moved over to the wall where the control panel was located. Prowl frowned,what was Optimus doing? The door slid open to reveal that Hammershot hadn't moved from his spot,he was half covered in shadows though the light did reach his feet. He had his head bowed and even though he had the oppertunity to try and break free he knew that he wouldn't get very far,even if he did manage to get past Optimus,he still didn't know his way around the base and was probably still too weak to use his cannon at full strength. He did want to know why the Autobots had saved him though, perhaps they thought that in return he would tell them Megatron's secrets? or that he would help them-owe them a life debt? He hardly was in any position to do any of that, let alone even want to speak to any of them,he knew he would only say what everyone was thinking and he didn't feel like putting any effort into fighting.

'Someone will be back to check on you in an hour'

Optimus informed Amber as the door sealed shut again. Hammershot slowly let his head raise to stare the girl who stood by the door,it was Amber one of Holly's friends,what did she want? He couldn't think of any reason for her to be in there with him, as far as he knew Holly was safe back at the Decepticon base so it couldn't be that. Amber moved foreward a few steps, she didn't know where he was nor where she stood in realivance to the hummer.

'Great,did Optimus leave you in here with the intention and hopes that I would tell you what Megatron is up to? Thinking that just because you're human and that you 'know' me that I might have more compassion towards you and open up?'

'Fuck you! I'm no tool for Optimus,the Autobots,or anyone! I'm so fucking tired of you, all of you,thinking you know everything! You have no fucking idea about anything! I don't care about Megatron,or the war,I could care less for it all! And don't think that just because I'm here in the fucking Autobot base that I've chosen their side. I've chosen no one's side! I have no side but my own! I would be happier if you all just fucked off and left my planet! I didn't ask for any of this! I don't want it and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for YOU!'

She growled,breathing darkly through clenched teeth, she was in no mood for any of what the Decepticon had to say, she just wanted her answers and nothing more,unfortunatly she figured that she probably wouldn't get her answers. Hammershot was silent for a few moments,he wasn't sure why this human was yelling at him but his mood was darkened by her words.

'You DON'T know anything human,you think that you can just show up and yell at someone then expect them to talk decently to you? And if I had had it my way I would have killed you along side your stupid little car on that night. You're just lucky that you lived,but now there's nothing that's stopping me from killing you,your presence here is just annoying'

'Go ahead'

'you want to die?'

'Better now then being blown to bits because of your fucking war that you brought onto innocent people. Destroying our lives and imposing yourselves upon us.'

'What do you know of war?'

'I know that its stupid and pointless, that people die for stupid causes and that if people just pulled their heads out of their asses then they would realize it too.'  
'Its not for stupid causes. War is defeating the enemy,those who want to destroy you'  
'You're an idiot'  
'And what would you fight for? If you think its so pointless and stupid? Surely not power,or respect,-'  
'I would fight for my friends'  
'Thats pathetic.'  
'Stupid. Thats what war is about, fighting for the little guys who can't fight for themselves'  
'No its not, you said you didn't care about this war but then why are you in here with me? If not as a tool for Optimus? Maybe you just want to torment me?'  
'Fucking hell,get over yourself for a minute! If I didn't have to be, I wouldn't be in a room with a giant robot who helped in making me blind'  
'What'  
'I'm blind because of your stupid Decepticons,at the airport'  
'I wasn't even-'  
'That doesn't matter! What matter's is, I'm here for one reason and one reason alone'  
'And what's that?'  
'To get answers'  
'Feh...And you expect me to tell you anything?'  
'You better'  
'No'  
'You're a selfish-pompous-big headed-blind-stupid-ignorant-JERK! If you opened your eyes for half a second then you might just see!'  
'That you're annoying'  
'No'  
'oh,that I hate you. I alredy know that'  
'Shut up! If you stopped being this bastard...Grah...I can't see why she cares about you! You're such a ignorant retard!'  
'You're the ignorant one.'  
'Am I? At least I don't go around spouting my mouth off and seriously hurting the one's I know care about me! Do you even THINK before you open your mouth!?'  
'What are you implying,Human'  
'That you are no better then a heap of rusted metal floating in the middle of the ocean with only the company of garbage!'  
'And you human are worthless, I lement the day I ever met you...but soon enough you will die...'  
'At least when I die,I'll have people I care about with me. What will you have? What can you say you did with your life once your gone? Do you think Megatron will even acknowledge you? That somewhere you'll be written down as a hero? '  
'No, I don't expect to gain anything from this war or my death,just the knowledge that I have done something to send my enemies to their own graves'  
Amber shook her head,was Hammershot really that dense? Or just didn't care? She wanted to hear it from his mouth,in his words,not trying to guess if its what he ment through his angered words directed at her,perhaps she could try to catch him off guard,but she didn't know and she really was starting to not care...Was Hammershot really this ignorant? The way he was acting,made her want to believe that he had ment what he had told her friend...and maybe deep down inside,she wanted it to be true...then that way Holly wouldn't be as heartbroken when the hummer got himself killed.  
'You really are a fool,you can't even see what's infront of you? Its not about what you'll gain but what you'll lose,but I see now...You don't even realize...You've already lost the most important part of your self centered life'  
'What are you talking about human? I've not lost anything...'  
'Yes...you have...You've lost Holly...'

AUTHORS NOTE: The lyrics at the beginning of the chapter belong to 'Snow white queen' by Evanescence.


	31. Chapter Thirty: Inconveniant Timing

Chapter 30: Inconveniant Timing

'So okay, It's okay I hope, I can say.'  
Devon had just gotten home from work, he had the house to himself and planned to relax a little before he went to check Grimlock.  
'At least I have the weekend off'  
He laughed as he opened the front door and stepped into the house. He dumped his stuff by the closet and slowly began towards the kitchen-the house smelt strongly of coffee on this evening. Devon didn't think much of it as he just assumed his family had just made a very strong batch before leaving earlier that day. Once he hit the kitchen,he stopped, why was the back padio door open? He knew his family,who was super paranoid, would never leave it open. Grabbing a letter opener that sat by the computer, Devon slunk foreward to the door, he'd just reached it when stepping out of nowhere was a strange man-both lept back out of instinct more then surprise.  
'Devon'  
Chris spat in an angery tone as if he thought the other was purposely trying to scare him. Dropping the opener on the desk,Devon backed up to let Chris enter, but was profoundly confused as to why he was even there. Chris walked to the kitchen island to where he'd left his mug of coffee.  
'Holly! Your cousin's finally back!'  
Chris bellowed before turning his dark gaze upon the still baffled Devon. There was tense silence between the two, after taking a long drawn out sip of his drink,Chris sighed.  
'I sappouse you're wondering what we're doing here'  
'Just a little'  
Devon didn't know what was going on but hadn't he heard that at least Holly had joined the Decepticons? For Chris to be there aw well must mean he had something to do with the Decepticons, but what did they want? The Decepticons didn't know about him as far as he knew, but it looked like the pair had been there for at least a day-about the length of time he'd been gone. He sized Chris up and came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to offer Devon any answers. He opened his mouth to make a comment about Chris' position but was cut off as there came a loud scream followed by a crash,bang,and tins rolling across the floor-followed by a loud growl, which had all come from the garage. Chris simply rolled his eyes and took another sip of his hot beverage,Devon raised a brow and swiftly over to the garage door, not sure of what to expect but more so he'd be away from Chris.Devon had barely reached the door when it suddenly burst open and out tumbled the familiar form of his cousin.  
'CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS! WE'RE GOING TO...OOOF'  
Holly tripped over a pair of shoes and fell flat on her face,the long shirt she wore looked much like a night gown and she had the look of someone who'd just woken up from a nap-Chris couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of what had happened to Holly then shook his head,  
'Holly-What were you doing with my truck?'  
he asked in a mocking tone,obviously there was an inside joke between the two and Devon was probably lucky for not knowing what it was.He chuckled anyways at how goofy his cousin was being,though he instantly dropped his expression as his eyes caught sight of something else-he'd not really paid attention to Chris' comment so when he saw something that didn't belong in the garage, he felt his spirits sink even further.  
'Dev,Dev,Dev!'  
Holly wailed and jumped back to her feet,she dashed back to Chris and hid behind him, grabbing the back of his shirt and using him as a shield from an unseen foe.  
'CHRIS!'  
'...What...'  
'You and I...I...we're going to die...'  
'No thanks to you. What did Beatdown tell you?'  
Chris wished Holly would calm down so that she'd tell him what she'd found out and what had happened to start all of this to begin with.  
'The order to find you and her has just been given'  
Came Beatdown's reply,Chris cursed under his breath and stepped away from the quaking girl,he glared at her for a few moments and breathed between clenched teeth.  
'This is all your fault  
'But...but...Hey, would you rather I hadn't run into you and all of a sudden you were dead and didn't know why?'  
'I would perfer to not have been dragged into this mess at all...and YOU still haven't told me what happened'  
He replied, he knew Holly was still upset but if they were going to survive,she had to smarten up. Devon stepped into the garage and looked at the blue Tundra that sat there,he knew it could easily kill him even without transforming but was curious-was it hiding as well? What could have happened to cause these three to hide? And at his place-couldn't they have chosen a better hiding spot? Though Devon had many questions he wanted answered,he was worried about what would happen if any more unexpected guests showed up,especially if they were from the opposing side. Smirking,he went over to his freezer and pulled out a grape popsicle, not paying any attention to Chris and Holly as they seemed to be arguing over something irrelevant.  
'So...What's a Decepticon doing in my garage?'  
Devon asked, giving a slight kick to Beatdown's front bumper but recieved no reply from the Con. Tilting his head from one side then to the next,Devon got a devious idea, breaking his popsicle in half he held one side out to offer it to the truck.  
'Want some? Its really good?'  
Again he was met with silence,Devon moved around to the back of the truck and bent down,chuckling lightly.  
'Here ya go!'  
He then promptly tried to stick the popsicle in the tailpipe of the truck-Engine roaring to life, and the truck backed up,pinning Devon against the garage door,who dropped the popsicle before it could have been used in any offensive manner towards the truck.   
'Hey! I was only trying to-'  
'Shut up human!'  
Chris and Holly appeared at the door looking confused,Chris then frowned and entered the garage.  
'What the fuck are you doing to my truck!?'  
'You do realize that its not really YOUR truck,right?'  
'I don't care-Answer-'  
'This human is very sick and twisted,I should crush the very life out of him right now for trying to do what he did'  
Holy and Chris glanced to Devon and saw that there was a popsicle on the floor,and knowing how sick Devon's mind could sometimes be,it didn't take them long to peace together what had occured while they were distracted. Holly pushed past Chris and right up to Beatdown,she looked ready to break out into tears still as she brought her hand around and slammed it into Beatdown's hood.  
'Stop trying to kill the guy who's the only person who won't give us over to either Jerk-a-mus or Megatron!'  
She demanded but was quickly pulled back by Chris-Beatdown growled and slowly moved foreward,releasing Devon.  
'Geez,That's the second time a truck's tried to kill me'  
Devon joked but quickly made his way out of the garage,no longer wanting to be around the truck,but he did want to know what was going on even more.  
'Okay,everyone don't move from where they stand,I'll be right back from my shower-then you can tell me what's going on'  
Devon sighed,finishing his popsicle he made his way up the stairs-Grimlock might have to wait...Things just got alot more complicated.

Ali laughed darkly as she booted a piece of what could have been a robots hand. She stood in amongst a pile of destroyed robots,some still smoking and sparking from when they lost their battle with the enemy.  
'That's what you get! Stupid fire trucks!'  
She booted another piece of metal and snickered loudly-with her cast around her leg she could kick things without hurting herself. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner? In the Background,Overkill shifted through the remenance of the truck he'd just finished destroying.  
'Useless'  
Sunstorm growled as he came to a rough landing on the unstable ground, he was followed by Skywarp and Thundercracker, the three seekers had helped with taking down the small army of firetrucks.  
'They knew nothing'  
'On top of that,they weren't even a challange to beat'  
Thundercracker commented and glanced around, they had been sent to try and gather information from the trucks which resulted in a short lived battle-tracking them down had taken them longer then the actual battle. It didn't help that Thundercracker had shown up late given that he had been held back by the whole Holly ordeal but no one really brought it up,but they were curious...Starscream was also sappoused to be there,oh well,they didn't need him anyways. Overkill sighed,this was pointless,now it would take them a while to return to the base-at least the stupid trucks had been gathered in an isolated valley barely an hour out of town, no humans should have seen the fight,though they were starting to not care.  
'What a perfect waste of our time'  
Skywarp grumbled,kicking the head of one of the fallen bots. There was a pause between the group, they'd fallen silent as new orders reached them.  
'The humans have betrayed us! Bring back all of them,Dead or alive'  
Ali had been close enough to Sunstorm to hear the order-she dropped the scrap metal she had in her hands and cursed loudly.  
'I'm going to Kill Holly and Chris!'  
She growled before looking up to Sunstorm who was smirking darkly down at her-  
'Hmmmmm'  
'Oh no,no,no,no-Hell No!'  
Ali yelled and lept off the pile she'd been on as Sunstorm tried to grab her and missed.  
'Yes,run-You'll only make it fun for us!'  
Skywarp laughed as he lept foreward and missed Ali as well, She was using the disregarded bodies as cover as she ran out of the way of the Cons who were trying to catch her.  
'Dammit!'  
She felt the ground slip under her feet and she tumbled down a dirt hill,somersaulting and looking like a starfish as she flew through the air until she came to a stop on her back. Knocking the wind out of her,Ali was literally seeing stars as she laid there for a while.  
'Uh...I hate you all'  
Ali groaned as she tried to move again,she was still not seeing straight as three shadows fell over her.  
'That was far too easy'  
'She's only a human'  
'too bad'  
The three seekers muttered amongst themselves. Overkill shook his head,Ali was with them the whole time, how could she have betrayed them? She'd done more then the others had to help the Decepticon cause,he frowned. She shouldn't be punished for the others stupidity-unfortunatly he didn't think the seekers would even listen to reason. They seemed more interested in tormenting the human-Growling he fell down o n one knee and leveled his arm with the two cannons mounted on it at the seekers.  
'Hey! Fly Boys!'  
The seekers looked up in time to see two bright lights heading straight for them. Knowing it was an attack they all dove for cover,Ali gritt her teeth as she was bounced into the air from the close vibrations. She then sheilded her face and yelled loudly as she crashed back onto the ground again.  
'Bloody robots!'  
But she understood that Overkill was giving her an oppertunity to escape,not that she'd be able to get far in her condition.  
'What are you doing!?'  
'Why'd you attack us!?'  
Sunstorm and Skywarp growled as they got back to their feet-their only response from Overkill was another attack.  
'Who cares! Overkill has betrayed us as well!'  
Thundercracker yelled,managing to get himself into the air and giving him an advantage over his ex-comrade.  
'Thanks,Overkill'  
Ali muttered as she crawled to the cover of some large bushes, and pushed herself into a crouched position. She watched for a few moments as the seekers seemed to have forgotten all about her and all worked to take down the tank instead. It was moments like this that Ali wished she was a giant robot herself so that she'd be able to kick the seekers butts.  
'You'll pay for this'  
Thundercracker growled,hitting Overkill in the back, while Skywarp was dodging the cannon blasts. Overkill brought his shield around and did his best to keep himself protected while still attacking-it was a good stragedy if he were facing slower opponents, but he wasn't. Sunstorm took a chance to shoot at Overkill when he spotted an opening-there was a loud explosion followed by a bellowing roar of anger-it was at this point that Ali took off. Moving towards the main road,she planned to follow the main road down the mountain side to the highway and from there if she was lucky enough to make it that far, be able to catch a bus back into town. Even with her foot in a cast,she should be able to get down the road in enough time, that was if Overkill could hold the seekers off for long.  
Ali knew Overkill was probably going to die,and though a part of her felt bad,she wouldn't allow herself to dwell on it-this was war after all. There was no room for feeling bad for living while others died-sometimes sacrific was needed for the better good-trust no one-and above all,growing attached to people would only end badly. She wasn't a heartless person but she also wanted to stay alive,and letting her mind get clouded by remose wouldn't help. However,revenge was always good-she planned to track both Chris and Holly down and hurt them for whatever it was that they had done to piss the Decepticons off like this. And it was more then likely all Holly's fault, as she really couldn't see Chris doing something unless he had a way to get himself out of it.  
'Dammit Holly! I'm going to Kill you!'  
She cursed as she reached the road and began to hobble down it as quickly as she could without slipping or doing something else klutzy. 


	32. Chapter ThirtyOne: Who You Are

Chapter 31-Who You Are.

The atmosphere in the holding cell was tense,neither had spoken for roughly an hour-Amber had decided to not push Hammershot to talk,he would only giver her attitude, and likewise Hammershot just didn't feel the need to speak to the annoying human. He still wasn't entirely sure what she wanted, he let his head drop a little-he waited to see if she would speak first.Amber had found a corner to sit in,she kept her eyes closed,even though she couldn't see it didn't matter-she was trying to push her own thoughts of anger away as she took in what had been said-she was thinking it all through. Even though they weren't currently talking,Amber wouldn't leave,she still hadn't had any of her questions answered. She was giving him time to cool down and maybe see if he had a response to her last comment. She was only vaguely aware of a strange noise over her head, but it wasn't until a voice from somewhere over her broke into her thoughts.  
'Where's the girl'  
Growled Ironhide as if he expected Hammershot to have crushed Amber-the Decepticon slowly turned his head to face the small slot where Ironhide was speaking from.

'Look down'  
'Down?'  
He angled his head and spotted Amber in the dark corner,he seemed slightly disappointed.  
'Well, its been an hour,time to get out Amber'  
'No.I'm not leaving'  
'Stop being Difficult'  
'I'm not. We've not sp-'  
'What have you been diong for the past hour? Sitting in silence?'  
'Pretty much'  
Hammershot replied with a dark smirk,he shifted to get more comfortable but failed and grunted darkly.  
'Well,Optimus wants to talk to Hammershot now'  
'Well,Optimus can wait his turn'  
'That's not how things work around here'  
'I don't care. If he doesn't want to talk then leave him alone until he's ready to talk'  
Ironhide huffed,he was losing his patience with the girl but didn't want to get into an arguement with the human. Without saying a word,he slammed the door panel on slot shut.  
'Autobots really need to work on their manners'  
'You all do'  
Amber added, she fell silent for a moment and was certain that Hammershot was starring at her. There was a long pause of silence between them again,perhaps to make sure that Ironhide was really gone and that they weren't going to be interrupted once more.  
'You're wrong'  
Hammershot said,breaking the silence finally,though he now stared straight ahead to the door and ignored the human for the time being. Amber waited, once she knew the Hummer wasn't continuing she spoke.  
'About what?'  
'Holly. I didn't lose her,I know where she is. She's safe at the Decepticon base,far from any Autobot's grasp'  
Amber growled,he'd either ignored what she said or missed the whole point all together.  
'Grah!Stop listening to what you're hearing and start listening to what I'm saying!'  
'What?'  
'Stupid! Grrr...Don't you even care!?'  
'About what?'  
If Amber had her sight,she would have stormed up to Hammershot and smacked him.  
'I'll tell you this once,Holly is one of my best friends and I'm worried sick about her, but you...you don't even seem to give a rat's ass what happens to her'  
'Of course I do,I have-''She holds the key to winning this war,why don't you understand that?'  
'SEE!? That's what I mean! You're too blind to see what's right in front of you'  
'Are you talking about Holly giving Megatron the code?'  
Again Amber growled,well at least the Hummer was starting to get a little closer to the point of this conversation.  
'Not entirely, but sure. What does the code do?'  
'No idea, but it will end this war'  
'How do you know that'  
'I don't'

'You really are a fool. Chasing something down because it MIGHT end the war. Stupid!'  
'Will you stop calling me that'  
'No.Because you are!''So..if What Holly knows is the key then what is your role in all this? Other then being a tard'  
Hammershot growled, why should he even tell this human anything? She was annoying and would likely use the information he told her against him later. But perhaps if he did entertain her then she would go away faster or at least understand where he was coming from.

'I'm to protect the human until she gives the code to Megatron.'

'Okay...well, now that's probably happened,what are you going to do?'  
'Wait until I am given a new mission,which might be a while until I can break free of these walls'  
'And what will happen to Holly?'  
Amber had a horrible gut feeling that she already knew the answer but wanted to hear it from Hammershot instead of jumping to conclusions.

'...She'll no longer be of any use to us and Megatron will kill her,to make sure that the code isn't forced out of her by the Autobots and they use it against us'

Amber's face darkened,did Hammershot trick Holly into agreeing to this? No...She knew Holly better then that, and she also knew that it wasn't for the Decepticons that Holly was throwing her life away.

'Don't you care? Holly's going to die and you're just fine with that?'  
'Her purpose will have been fulfilled, her mission complete,she knows this and that she'll die for our rise in power'  
'No! Dammit! Don't you see!? She's not dying for the Decepticons, or even Megatron! She's going to die because of YOU! Because you're a Decepticon! Because...because..You're so stupid!'

Hammershot looked confused,the girl was angery but tears were beginning to appear at the corners of her eyes. She took a few minutes to collect herself,Amber didn't want to lose her friend and deffinatly not for something as meaningless as this. She shook her head,stupid robots-stupid Holly! Amber felt her body trembling from all the emotions she felt inside-she knew that the robots felt things like emotions,Anger-Hate-Jealousy-Joy-Compassion but did they feel...Love? She didn't know but wasn't going to ask,at least none of the males,they wouldn't understand,they never did-maybe she'd ask Freeway later.

'Do you even know? What Holly thinks of you?'

'I'm the Hummer she'd wanted most of her life, the only Decepticon she trusts and I protect her from danger.She thinks I'm just really neat'

'You are wrong'

'Oh,right. She likes Skywarp and Soundwave as well but they-'

'SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP YOU STUPID-BLIND-IDIOT-SELF CENTERED-JERK FACED-UNCARING-STUPID!'

Amber had gotten to her feet at this point,no longer able to hold back what she had been trying since the beginning of this whole conversation,tears of both frusteration and fear rolled down her face now.

'Just...Shut up...If you opened your eyes you'd see that Holly is going to die and its all your fault but you're not willing to go save her! Holly doesn't care that you're some boxy Hummer-or a really cool giant robot-or even a fucking Decepticon! All of that doesn't matter to her! She cares about YOU for who YOU are-Hammershot-Why can't you see this? Why can't you see that what you said to her at the park, when she was trying to protect you,broke her heart! You fucking idiot! Not only that but you made her feel worthless,useless,and you sure put her in her place,just a 'Tool'! Nothing more. I've never seen Holly look at anyone or do anything like what she had for you! And what's worse...That even though you treated her like scum that doesn't matter, is that she's still going to go ahead and die for you! Don't tell me her sacrifice is going to be over a worthless piece of junk who's too stupid and blind to realize the he was someone's whole world...That...That,person who's going to die LOVED him! Despite the fact that she was only human and HE was a giant fucking transformable robot! You really are a jerk! I'd go as far to say that you're a heartless,blind,stupid,bastard-I hope you're proud of yourself! You've lost the only person in all the universe who was willing to die for you for no other reason then because she cared about you and helping you,dying because she wanted to help you anyway she could. I don't know if you understand this emotion I'm trying to tell you about...but its really fucking frusterating knowing that one of your friends is throwing their life away for someone...no,something...that isn't worth her death.! Hammershot...I wish...I wish you never had entered Holly's life...Then maybe...just maybe...'

Amber trailed off as she collapsed to the ground and held herself tightly,trembling violently now and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, she felt powerless herself at the moment and found her voice was gone from the long rant she had just given-it was the longest one she had given any of the robots.It was probably too late,Holly was probably already dead-and for what? For someone who was too selfish to realize the truth? true,it was probably a one sided feeling,but it still should have been a special bond between the two,despite their obvious difference in species. Was Amber the only one who realized all this? She didn't know,but now she had to get out of this room-away from Hammershot. If Holly was dead it was his fault and she would never forgive him for what he'd done. The silence fell between the two but it was different from earlier,NOW they both had real heavy thoughts on their minds. Amber didn't know if the damn Hummer even cared at all about Holly or if he was just amused at how easily the human seemed to be set off,and if he did he wasn't bound to tell her,especially after her rant at him. Amber was bitter,true she had sort of trapped Hammershot into that corner in their conversation but she'd also given him oppertunities to defend himself. She sighed inwardly,what was she going to do now? She may have lost a dear friend,she currently hated everyone,and thought that everyone was idiots.

After a while the slot opened again and this time it was Ameba who's voice broke the silence.  
'Amber? Are you still not talking? Or are you coming out?'  
She noticed the ball on the floor uncurl as Amber stood to her feet,she gave a sharp nod and gropped for the wall-using it as a guide as she moved towards the door. Ameba glanced to Hammershot,he looked worse then ever,he didn't even look like he was alive. The door slid open just enough for the human to easily walk out-Hammershot still didn't stir. Ameba frowned and opened the door all the way,standing in the doorway for a few minutes as if tempting the Decepticon to make a break for it,but Hammershot didn't move,maybe he was dead? Reluctantly,she closed the door again and watched Amber walking blindly,luckily she had a friend nearby who was already acting to hep her.

'Amber,Stop!'

Curtis dashed foreward and stopped his friend before she walked into a wall. Amber sighed and hung her shoulders,before she spoke in a soft tone just above a whisper.

'Do me a favor'

'Sure,what?'

'Stay here and make sure no one talks or sees Hammershot until I return'

'Uh...okay...but where...'

'I'm going out..Where's Freeway?'

Ameba glanced around before moving off,

'I'll get her for you'

She said before disappearing up a flight of stairs. Curtis turned Amber so that she was facing him-he saw clearly that she had been crying.

'Are you alright?'

'No'

'Did Hammershot do something to hurt you?'

'yes'

'What is it? I'll get Optimus to-'

'no'

'What?'

'There's nothing you or anyone can do'

'Amber...What happened in there?'

'Nothing'

Curtis obviously didn't believe her but didn't want to press her for answers, instead he gave her a large hug-she looked like she needed one. Amber nearly collapsed into Curtis'chest,but managed to keep herself standing,if only by using him for support

'I need to go'

She muttered into his shoulder,making it almost impossible for him to understand what she had just said.

'What?'

'Thank you'

She replied louder this time and sighed,she didn't want to be where she was any more,nor to think what she did,she just wanted things...to be...right again...


	33. Chapter ThirtyTwo: BlitzGear

Chapter 32: Blitz-Gear

It was growing dark by the time Ali had made it back to civilization and her legs were beginning to feel like they would seize up at any moment.What time was it? She didn't even know, but was fairly confident that she'd missed the last bus of the day that passed out that far from town,and with no more then five dollars in change,calling for a cab into town wasn't an option. With the way things had played out,she wasn't going to be heading back anywhere near the Decepticons until she had found her 'friends' and found out what had happened, instead she was going to go to a old friend's appartment that she knew was deffinatly out of town for a month-Ali luckily still had a key to the place and knew the friend wouldn't mind if she crashed there for a night. But that still left her with the problem of how she was getting back into town-she had two options before her, and neither looked very promising for either her or for anyone who may cross her path. She could either continue walking and just make her way into town by foot,without her cast it would have taken her probably just over an hour but with her cast and other minor pains, it would probably take her alot longer. Her other option was to try and hitch a ride into town by standing at the side of the road and hitch hike,which brought up the risk of a stranger picking her up,also she didn't think she would want to get into any vehicle with anyone who would stop for her. Growling and cursing her luck, she decided that walking was probably the better of the two options, she would just take a long bathe and make a cup of tea before she fell asleep-that sounded like a plan. At least she wouldn't have to deal with stupid people...just stupid people with cars who weren't paying attention to where they were driving. She muttered under her breath as she limped down the stretch of road that ran parrallel with the highway,it would lead her straight to the edge of down town. A warm breeze hit her from the back and caused Ali to stop,glancing back over her shoulder with a frown. There was no evidance of what had happened to cause the strange sensation but Ali knew what it ment and despite the fact that she had told herself she wasn't going to feel anything over the lose of a stupid machine,she couldn't help but feel a tinge of pain hit her chest.

'Overkill...'

His sacrifice was to save her,it was his own fault that he was dead,she wouldn't let that bother her, but at the same time she wouldn't forget it. He died so that she could live to see another day-after a few minutes of just starring off into the darkness she smirked darkly feeling her old notions returning and gave a slight bow of her head,

'You gave them hell, didn't you-Good, they deserved it!'

She then turned back and continued her slow but undisturbed journy to the edge of downtown, feeling a little better knowing that it wouldn't be a while before the seekers came looking for her,they were probably tending to the wounds they had recieved from the battle with the old tank. That made Ali snicker,she wished that she had a way to see the look on their faces, they were probably disgruntled and were going to get it for letting one of the humans slip through their fingers-when there was THREE of them.

Half an hour later,Ali was just passing the fast food district of the road and debating on stopping for a drink and a snack,sugar would be good right about now and keep her going,but at the same time she would probably collapse and not get up if she did stop. Deciding against it she continued on,and it wasn't long after that that she felt a familiar prickle at the back of her neck-someone was watching her! Someone...or something...Ali growled and cursed again,she had probably been found by a Decepticon,she really didn't want to go back to that base. Not slowing her pace,Ali continued on but looked at every vehicle around suspeciously,she hated the fact that she couldn't tell the difference,she wanted to just spin around and smack something. She waited a little longer until she came to a stop and then growled angerly,

'Well...come and get me if you're going to!'

She declared loudly, turning around once but nothing changed or moved or anything. Though an old couple out for their evening walk with their dog gave her odd looks before crossing the street to get away from the crazy girl. Even more frusterated Ali continued onwards once again,glaring at the stream of vehicles that passed her,the two she noticed out of the dark forms was a Dodge Stealth and a Ferrari,a small gasp excaped from her lips-why would she have to be looking when one of those passed by? She didn't even think anything odd of the sports car as she knew many passed by on their way through the city. Rolling her eyes she huffed and looked to the starry sky,it was going to be a long night and she wasn't looking foreward to any of it.

A short time later Ali came to another stop, she'd been rummaging around her pant pockets for her change as the constant jingling was irratating,when she came to the realization that she was on the last stretch of road but that wasn't what had caused her to stop. Sure she was about half an hour away from being safe for the rest of the night,but it was the fact that she had just rememberedthat she was now walking past the car dealership district of the road. Glancing over to the Subaru dealership,Ali's face darkened as she cursed loudly,

'Fuck!'

It was now pitch black and barely anyone was on the road any more,she probably should have just forgot all about it and continued on but something snapped inside and she shook her head as she crossed the street to walk into the dealership's lot. She was tired,sore,frusterated and just wanted everything to just got the hell away.She came to a stop in the center of the dealership and cleared her throat once,glaring around at all the still vehicles she closed her eyes before opening her mouth,

'IF YOU WANT ME COME AND GET ME! HERE I AM! STOP BEING COWARDS! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?'

She declared at the top of her lungs,she waited and waited and waited,but nothing moved-none of vehicles jumped to life like she expected them to.Ali growled louder in frusteration, this was not helping her mood at all and was ready to curse again even louder then before but the barking of a dog caused her to stop and spin around.

'Excuse me miss,you can't be here. I'm going to ask you to leave'

The security guard was no older then Ali but it was the large dog tethered at his side that caused Ali to back off,she didn't like large dogs that she didn't know,and gave a slight appology before limping back into the darkness of the deserted street. There was a large black lot void of anything,even light where another dealership was probably being built but it was currently empty and gave a strange ominious feeling to it. Ali took no note to it,she just wanted to get to the apartment and relax,maybe she was just being paranoid or something because of what she had been through in the past couple of hours.

'For a human on the run from the Decepticons,you sure are noisy'

Ali spun to face the empty lot,was it another Decepticon? Maybe,-it had to be-how else did it know that she was on the run? She wasn't sure what to think as she hadn't been expecting anything after all that yelling she had done for the better part of the walk.

'Stop hiding and tell me who you are! And what makes you think I'm running from anyone!'

Suddenly the speaker turned on their highbeams and hit Ali with them,she was blinded by the intense light and growled angerly,sheilding her face with her arm and trying to see what was in the darkness-it appeared to be a car,but was it even one of the robots or something else...

'Stop Dicking around!'

She grumbled as there was no reply right away.

'My name is Blitz-Gear and I'm here to take you to the Autobot base'

'So...Lemme get this straight...'

Devon rubbed his temples as he tried to find logic in what he'd been told. Chris leaned against a wall, a new cup of coffee in one hand the other shoved deep into his jean pocket. While Holly sat on the swivle computer chair with her knees drawn up to her chest,she slowly spun herself in a circle by pushing along the computer desk, but still looked like she might suddenly fall asleep.

'Holly was going to give Megatron the code that he needs to win the war? That wasn't too smart. Then Starscream,a...high ranked general I assume, interrupted this perceeding? Which obviously angered Megatron,which I don't see having much patience to start. So, in a fit of anger he...blew up one of his strongest men!? That sounds dodgy. Holly,then naturally ran,being that she's Captain-run-away, and Chris, you were dragged into all this by accident. Now you both need to hide from the Decepticons,who are all upset by what they probably perseve as an act of treason...so naturally...with no where else to go, you came to me...'

Once Devon had finished summerizing what Holly had told them moments before, Chris took a sip of his drink but the answer was evident. It may have been a good idea to start but now a Decepticon knew where he lived and could give them all away for no better reason then because he could. Devon sighed,he couldn't be too upset with his cousin though,after all Holly didn't know that he knew about the Autobots and Decepticons,nor anything he knew,but he had another question he wanted answered. Why had Beatdown taken the two humans away from the base? Perhaps he hadn't known what had happened when he had run into the humans? Or maybe he didn't care? or was he planning something else of his own devices? That was the most unnerving thought,and Devon didn't like it, he couldn't wait to get the Decepticon out of there and if it were possible,away from his cousin. Sighing again,he looked to Holly,who now had her eyes half closed-she looked even more tired then she had moments earlier. He could tell that she had something on her mind that was influencing her decisions, it wasn't fear of what she had done, she seemed to no longer care that she might die a horrible death-no it was more...she looked defeated...Maybe if he made her something to eat she would start feeling like her old self again.

'I think we all need to go downstairs for a game to clear our minds'

Devon suggested,he would try to keep the mood light until he had time to sort out what was going on. Holly suddenly looked alert and giggled slightly,looking much like her former self again,though it would be fleeting.

'Halo?'

'If you want'

'Yay! Halo!'

Holly wiggled in the chair but stopped as Chris growled,he shook his head and narrowed his eyes at Devon.

'I have a question'

'Uh...Ok...'

Chris pushed away from the wall and stepped towards Devon his face still looking dark but unreadable.

'I find it odd that we show up telling Devon of giant killer robots yet he acts like its nothing new'

'I'm related to Holly, the impossible is possible'

'Then how did you know my truck was a Decepticon before we told you a thing? Unless you already knew...'

Devon frowned, he didn't think that Chris had heard his comment back in the garage but now he was being accused of something his mind wouldn't let him talk his way out of being the sudden center of attention. Chris looked like he was ready to attack him, but Devon didn't think he would,at least not while Holly was there,or so he hoped.

'I didn't'

'Don't lie'

'I'm not'

'you are-I heard you'

'Well you heard wrong then'

Chris was going to retaliate back when there was a loud 'Clank' and all three in the kitchen turned their attention towards the inside garage door,

'That was the Garage door'

Devon announced nervously,he didn't like the way things were going...but would find out what was going on out there now...and hoped that it wasn't one of the two things he instantly thought it could be...


	34. Chapter ThirtyThree: ReUnited At Last

Chapter 33: Re-United at last

Freeway sat in the dirt drive way whispering directions to the still blind Amber-Well, she wasn't still completely blind,she could now sort of see shades of greys and blurry blobs but no colours and if she were to step into sudden darkness she would lose her limited vision . She felt the bottom of the garage door until she found the small box which housed the switch-she fumbled to open it and punch in the code,it took her a few times as the key pad was different from most. Luckily the code was simply,'36322',the door clanked once and began to open on its own.

'Amber-Get back!'

'What-What's going on?"

Amber was confused as she saw a grey blur that was Freeway speed past her into the darkness of the garage-there was an odd sound of metal meeting metal followed by an unfamiliar angery voice.

'Autobot Scum!'

Amber's eyes narrowed,what the hell was going on here? Why was there a Decepticon in Devon's garage? She moved foreward slowly into the darkness,knowing that she wouldn't be able to see anything once she was inside.

'No,Amber stay back'

Freeway tried to get the human out of the confides of the garage,she didn't want her to get hurt or worse because of what might happen between the two giants.

'What's going on here? AMBER!?"

Devon's voice broke the air, he sounded confused to see Amber there, but Amber's surprises weren't over just yet.

'Greaat'

'CHRIS!?!'  
Amber declared suddenly,she found his presence at Devon's even more disturbing then finding the Decepticon there. Chris frowned and growled loudly,things couldn't possibly get any worse then they were now,could they? At least Holly had some sense,out of the three who had been inside previous to Amber's arrival,she had stayed seated and not moved to go see what was happening. He glanced over his shoulder to her and tried to give her a look that ment 'run' but Holly wasn't even looking at him,instead she was staring out the window.

'You tricked me, you knew that an Autobot would be here!'

Beatdown accused darkly,which brought Chris' attention back to the garage and his face soured even more.

'I'm NOT the one who suggested that we come here'

'What are you even doing here!?'

Freeway grumbled,fighting every instinct in her body that told her to transform before the other did-she knew that she was much smaller then the Decepticon but she could fight easier if forced to transform in the small space.

'Like I'm going to tell you anything!'

'You'd better or I'll have Optimus down here so fast...'

'Coward'

'I am n-'

'STOP IT!'

Amber yelled, all the bantering was only giving her a headache, she also wanted to know what was going on, and all this arguing wasn't helping at all.

'This was a bad idea'

Beatdown growled though no one replied-Devon stood,now between the two vehicles,trying to figure out what exactly to do with everyone.

'Chris,can you hit the switch by your left'

Chris did so and the garage door automatically closed, nearly hitting Amber in the rump as it shut behind her.

'Okay,everyone,shut up for a minute!'

Devon spoke,trying to take charge of this maddness-he moved over to Amber and grabbed her by the arm to lead her towards the door leading inside the house.

'Everyone gets one question each, and we'll go in turn... we'll start with Amber, because she'll kill us if we don't let her go first'

There was a united silence between all involved but none seemed to have anything to add to that. Amber frowned deeply,she didn't like any of the thoughts in her mind and she was in no state to be dealing with any of this.

'Chris...What are you doing at Devon's?'

There was a long pause of silence,it was almost as if he wasn't going to answer,then he rolled his eyes and in a resentful tone answered the question directed to him.

' I was dragged here'

'By-'

'No,Amber,its Beatdown's turn'

'No,I want-'

'Amber. I'll sit on you if I have to'

'I hate you, I want to know-'

'Shut up you stupid human and let me speak'

'Why don't you make me'

'With pleasure-'

'ENOUGH! Don't make me give you time outs!'

The Tundra snarled darkly at Devon's comment but he too was in no mood for pointless arguements amonst those around him,he disliked them all the same at the moment.

'Beatdown Hurry up!'

'Shut it. What is a pathetic and weak Autobot doing here?'

'I escorted Amber here'

Was Freeway's simple response. Devon nodded and gestured to the white motorcycle,who gave a sharp noise of contempt.

'Why is a Decepticon hiding out in a human's garage?'

'Because I can and I'm NOT hiding'

'Could have fooled me'

'Okay...moving on...Chris?'

'Pass'

'Pass? Okay...my turn...'

Devon paused to take a moment to think of what he was going to say,and wondered if anyone would try to interrupt him.

'Can you robots live with each other while we humans go inside?'

'WELL...I can but I don't know about HIM'

Freeway said curtly, Beatdown sighed, this was becoming more trouble then it really was worth.

'Whatever'

'Good. Then let us Humans go inside!'

Chris didn't even wait for Devon to finish as he stepped inside and was back in the kitchen by the time Devon and Amber reached the landing. He gave a slight smirk as he saw Holly's eyes suddenly go wide and she lept off the chair-moving to the far corner of the kitchen and trying to hide in the open.

'Heh. That's the fastest I've ever seen Holly move'

Devon chuckled, he didn't notice the dark look Chris shot him nor Amber's eyes narrowing as she pulled away from Devon's support,she quickly walked to the center of the kitchen.

'Holly?'

There was a small whimper from the corner of the kitchen-Amber's contorted in all directions,finally setting into a very angery looking one. She then moved towards the cowering girl,who looked as if she was trying to slip away through a crack. Amber looked as if she might kill Holly who she had just thought was dead-this made things a little more complicated in her mind. There were so many emotions raging through her as she advanced upon the other girl-neither Chris or Devon said or did anything to stop this,they knew better and didn't want to get dragged into the middle of it.

'Holly! ...The...I...You...I...Grrrr...Grah!'

'Ack!'

Holly tried to back up as Amber sprung foreward in what looked like an attack to hit the other in the face and lower torso,an attempt to inflict physical pain upon the friend. Chris rolled his eyes again and huffed loudly, he decided to go sit in the tv room and maybe see what was going on in the rest of the world that hopefully didn't involve giant robots. Devon decided to do the same though he went to the front lounge,he was close incase the re-union went violent and he wouldn't be surprised that it would given the emotional state of the pair.

Amber wrapped her amrs around Holly and held her as tightly as possible,which confused Holly,she'd expected to at least receive a punch or something-she had after all pretty much abandoned her friend to be with the Decepticons. Looking down,Holly saw that Amber was crying,her whole body was trembling violently and no words came out of her mouth,she couldn't find the strength to speak at the moment. This scared Holly,she didn't fully understand why her friend was so upset-not knowing what else to do or say,Holly wrapped her arms around her friend in return and rested her head on Amber's shoulder. She felt sick to her stomach and could feel as if all the feelings she had kept bottled up inside start to creep to the surface,

'I'm sorry'

Holly said after a few moments,but Amber didn't reply,and that was what she had expected.

'I didn't mean...I mean...you know...I...I'm just sorry'

She decided that trying to talk now was too difficult and that she'd wait a little longer.

Bumblebee had been released before Scout had,and desbite his small stature he had managed to survive more then one attack that should have destroyed him,he didn't let this go to his head though,but it did make him feel a little stronger then he was. Pulling his head out of the clouds he slowly re-entered the medical bay,looking around for any sign of Ratchet,but he didn't see him anywhere. Scurring through the bay he made his way to where Scout was re-cooperating. Bumblebee had heard from Sunstreaker and Sideswipe about their new guest and as much as he wanted to go 'See' the Hummer for himself,he knew that if anyone had a right to it would be his friend that he was going to visit now. Besides,everyone else was busy with Crusher and Liane to even notice that the yellow bot had disappeared anyways,that and he was bored.

Scout laid on the very end table and shifted his head as he heard someone approaching,he assumed it was probably Ratchet,but he smiled widely as he saw that it wasn't the medic,though he was a little worried as to why Bumblebee was there suddenly when he was surely sappoused to be doing something else.

'Bee, please don't tell me-something really horrible's happened and we're all going to die'

Bumblebee gave a short chuckle and shook his head,and hoped that nothing like that ever happened.

'No-nothing like that,yet'

'Wait...Yet?...what do you mean?'

'Nothing!'

'Bee...'

'What?'

'Bee...'

'Seriously,things are actually starting to look as if their going our way'

'Oh?'

Bumblebee leaned his back against the table and crossed his arms over his chest-Scout propped himself up onto his arms and looked very skeptically at his friend.

'Liane and Crusher are well and telling Optimus what's happened to them,and you'll never guess who we have down-'

'BEE!'

'What!?'

Bumblebee jumped and looked around,expecting to find a disgruntled Ratchet storming his way,but saw nothing and glanced back to his friend,waiting to be given an explination of why he'd suddenly startled his friend.

'Where's Amber?'

'Oh...'

'No, Where is she?'

'Don't worry,she's safe with Freeway'

'She's with WHO!?'

'Yea,Freeway was the only one willing to watch Amber while the both of us were in here'

'What about Ameba?'

'She's been busy'

Scout sighed and drooped his head a little, then he slowly glanced back up to his friend.

'And where are they now?'

'Out. I think'

'Out?'

'I think Sideswipe said he saw them leave hours ago...heading to...Devons? I think she was upset or something'

Scout growled slightly at his friend and Bumblebee had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

'I'll go find them'

'You'd better'

'Don't worry'

'I'm always worried'

'About Amber'

'About everyone...'

'Silly Scout'

The pair stared at each other for a few moments before sharing a quick chuckle before the mood fell more serious again.

'I'll bring her back safe,I promise'

Bumblebee promised as he decided that he had better go-it was already late and Amber was probably going to be in bed or something by the time he reached Devon's residence.

'We'll see you in the morning,Scout'

He called over his shoulder as he walked out of view. Scout flopped back onto his back and huffed-he was going to worry all night now. It was very unlikely that Ratchet would release him until the morning anyways, this caused him to growl and hold one hand to his face-he wanted to be the one to go to Amber. Where was Ratchet anyways? Not that Scout was too worried, he was probably dealing with the twins or side tracked. At least he had time to sort out his thoughts and hope that nothing bad befell Amber while she was out at Devon's, he also wondered what the future held for her. He sighed,no matter what happened,or what she was told, he knew that she would do her own thing despite it being the right or wrong thing to do at the moment. But Amber was a free spirit-one of the most spirited humans he had seen in a while, and that...was what Scout thought was interesting,she always had something up her sleeve...


	35. Chapter ThirtyFour: The Talk

Chapter 34: The Talk

The two girls sat in silence for nearly two hours, but it wasn't ackward silence, it was one where they both knew the other was trying to deal with their own thoughts. Each giving the other the chance to be someplace safe and take their time, before speaking what they both had to say. Chris and Devon were both upstairs while Amber and Holly had invaded the basement,as it was the most private area of the house as well as comforting.Amber sat on the large couch by the tv while Holly sat on the floor next to the couch, it was late,well past twelve in the morning but both girls wouldn't let their minds wander onto the thoughts of sleep until they were done.Holly was aware that the 'talk' was coming but she didn't know what she was going to say in her defense, what was there for her to say? She knew that Amber was waiting for her to go first,but what could she say? Sighing deeply, she lowered her head a little and decided to stop putting off the inevedable.

'Amber...'

She was met with silence but knew that her friend was waiting to hear what she had to say.

'I really...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just leave you...'

'But you did'

Amber snapped, it wasn't angery sounding, just hurt-hurt at what her friend had done.

'I'm sorry'

'That doesn't change the fact that you left me behind to run off with your stupid Hummer! Leaving me to try and figure out what was going on-what had happened-'

'I'm sorry'

'You don't think that I wasn't worried about you? I thought you were dead!'

There was a pause of silence between the two, Holly looked down and closed her eyes, she could feel her body trembling, she needed...something...food? Sleep? to release all the pain in her chest? Probably all of that, she was only running on adrenilne at this point.

'I am so sorry. I couldn't exactly call you, you know. I didn't know what had happened to you either and I didn't want to risk having you get involved'

'Too late'

'No, I mean, like...'

She couldn't fit the right words together and it was frusterating.

'I didn't know if you were involved or not and if not-'

'Didn't stop you from getting CHRIS involved,now did it?'

'THAT...was not my doing! He was brought into it by Beatdown!'

There was another pause as Amber decided to try and shift the direction of the conversation.

'Are you alright?'

Holly looked up suddenly, apparently the question had taken her by surprise but she ended up narrowing her eyes and answered slowly.

'What do you mean?'

'Holly...You've been through alot in the past week, I don't expect you to be all sunshine and roses. But...I want to know..why? Why are you doing all of this?'

Silence,Holly looked down again as Amber continued.

''Why are you throwing your life away? For a bunch of robots who don't care about you? You're just a stepping stone for them, do you really think that any of them care about you? They're just putting up with you-after all, they want to kill us all, and you're no exception. Do you want to be known as the tool who killed her friends?'

Holly glared foreward,she was only half paying attention to the conversation.

'I've not killed anyone'

'yet'

'What do you mean?'

'What do you think will happen to all of your friends, us, we're part of this war now but if you die then our fates are sealed. Wheither by choice or not. Think about it. Do you want to kill us? And if any of us do survive,we'll only feel worse-Don't you think we care about you? Why can't you see your actions affect more then just you'

Holly held her knees close to her chest and burried her head into them,Amber didn't want to make her upset but if it was the only way to snap her out of this.

'I don't know! I don't know what to do!'

Holly declared suddenly,tightening her grip around her legs.

'Everything and everyone, including Jen says I shouldn't give Megatron the code but-'

'But?'

'I don't know,my heart aches and its like I don't understand. I want to do it,but something's stopping me-like my brain is telling me what everyone else is but my hearts trying to do something different all together...I don't know what's wrong with me...maybe I think it would be better if-'

'Why? Why do you want to give the Decepticons the code?'

Amber interruptied, she knew that Holly was crying again, she wasn't dealing with the way things had turned out well, but thats why Amber was going to see her through this-even if Holly didn't like it.

'I don't know!'

'It doesn't benefit you. Its not your war. you won't even get any reconition-You'll be dead. so why do it?'

'Because...I...I...don't know!'

'You do!'

'No!'

'Then you don't know why you want to die in an alien war?'

'yes'

Amber turned her head to face her friend,it was hard to make Holly out as she looked like a dark blurr but she knew that she was there. She wished that she could see Holly's face,but knew that she really couldn't sort out the reason in her mind,and that Amber would have to help her with that as well.

'you know what I think'

'No'

'I think you and I need to go on vacation-just the two of us, with lots of hot guys and bubbletea, how does that sound?'

Amber hoped Holly would smile or something but she only burried her face into her legs agan. Whimpering something but it was too muffled for Amber to completely understand what had been said.

'You,what?'

Slowly,Holly pulled back her head so that her friend could understand what she had just said.

'I want Hammershot! But he's gone!'

Amber frowned, not speaking for a moment,she sighed heavily and fought the urge to tell her friend that he was alright and that she might get to see him again real soon. Instead she pretended that she had been offended by her friend's words.

'What? I'm not good enough?'

'No, its not...I mean...I'

Holly shuddered and Amber was beginning to realize what she had suspected all along, that Holly was convinced that Hammershot was dead,which made things very interesting.

'Why'd those fucking Autobots have to kill him!'

Amber gave an inward chuckle,the two involved in this thought that the other was dead,it was rather amusing when one thought about it. But if she didn't manage to sort out this whole mess then things would turn ugly, if Holly found out that Hammershot was alive before Amber could talk to them, then it would probably destroy Holly-she would assume that he didn't want to be around her and that he had disappeared on purpose.

'You really adore your Hummer-'

'Of course! you know that, I love hi-'

Holly cut herself off as her face suddenly brightened quickly and she turned her head away incase her friend could see that she was embarressed.

'The Hummer or Hammershot?'

Amber asked,then quickly followed with a statement so that the obvious answer could be covered up, as she knew her friend had a problem talking about the subject when she thought she might get in trouble for it.

'You know,Hammershot is amongst those who don't care if you live or die'

'I know and I don't care'

'You'll die anyways,even if your affections aren't returned? you'll die for an alien robot who wants to destroy the world?'

'Yes'

'You know its not like anything can really happen between-'

'I Know! I don't care! I can't help the way I feel! Who or what I feel it towards! I just do and I don't know why! Its like...I don't know...like I just know that...I...Amber...is it wrong to be in love with him?'

This question was a difficult one to answer, Amber could tell her friend what she wanted to hear and at the same time she could tell her friend what she honestly thought and she really didn't know which one would be better for Holly given her condition at the moment. Humming a few moments as if she were really thinking it over, Amber was trying to make her friend think that she was taking the question to heart, then she decided to answer after a while.

'There's nothing wrong in loving him as long as you love him for the right reasons'

'What?'

'Well...Do you love him because he's a Hummer? A giant robot? Has the power to destroy things? why?'

'No, I don't care about any of that'

That supported what Amber already knew,but she wanted to know as well,what attracted Holly to a robot-that she had barely known for three weeks.

'Amber...I'm scared...'

'What for?'

'I know that I love him...because...I trust him, with my whole being...and I think...maybe that's why...I don't know...I can't explain it...'

Amber shook her head, dealing with her confused friend who was in love with a robot was going to be harder to deal with then the confused robot. At least she knew basically how Holly would react to certain things and that she could stop her from doing things by babbling on,bullshitting her way through the stuff she didn't know for certain and convincing Holly that she knew exactly what she was talking about.

'You-'

'Hey,Amber you busy?'

Devon bellowed down the stairs and was barely heard through the closed door with the soft music that had been playing on the stereo. Amber was more annoyed at the interruption then curious about what could be going on-she had figured they wouldn't he bugged by either guy upstairs unless something serious was going on. With that thought,Amber growled,she hoped that nothing was going on between Freeway and the stupid Tundra.

'WHAT!?'

'Did you tell anyone you were coming here?'

'No,why?'

Amber had told Curtis and Ameba but she didn't even remember talking to them, and she wanted to know now why Devon would ask such a question, having a funny feeling that perhaps someone was there. Maybe it was Curtis, she hoped not for then she would have to return to the Autobot base and find away to hurt the stupid robots.

'Well, because we have company'

'Dammit!'

'Wha-'

'Shut up Holly!'

Amber stood to her feet, she wanted to finish her conversation in trying to regain some of the old Holly back, but that would have to wait now. She walked into the coffee table and cursed again,Holly watched a little anxious as to what was going on.

'Its Bumblebee and I think he wants to see you!'

Devon yelled once more before he walked off through the kitchen to finish making breakfast as he had nothing else to do and it was morning after all.

'Who's Bumblebee?'

Holly asked but Amber only growled and pushed past her friend,knowing the layout of Devon's home off by heart she could manage to make her way around the basement even if she had a blind fold on.

'Can you see yet?'

'No, but I don't need to-I know Devon's house like the back of my hand. I'm going to see what's going on...Holly, just...stay here'

Amber opened the door, hitting her shoulder with it before she dashed up the stairs. What was Bumblebee doing there? This was going to be bad, Bumblebee didn't know that the others were there but Amber was certain that Beatdown wouldn't sit still for long with the increasing amount of Autobots showing up suddenly. She came racing through the lounge and out the open front door, she ran to the center of the lawn or so she hoped was the center of the lawn.

'Amber! I need to-'

'What are you doing here?'

'I came to-'

'grah-can't you all just leave me alone for a few hours?'

'Huh?'

'I try to get away for a night but I'm stalked by stupid cars!'

'We're just worried'

'Bullshit!'

'Amber...?'


	36. Chapter ThirtyFive: Secrets

Chapter 35: Secrets

Amber didn't need her eyes to know who had just spoken her name-standing by the far end of the garage was Holly, who had taken the cellar stairs up to the outside, it was quicker then going through the house. Bumblebee made a sound of surprise as he saw the girl,he didn't know what she was doing there and perhaps that was part of what fueled Amber's frusteration as she growled loudly,getting annoyed that no one ever listened to her.

'What part of 'Stay here' don't you understand?'

Amber snapped but Holly only snorted back, her attention was no longer on her friend. She stared darkly at the yellow camaro, she'd seen it before but wouldn't have thought much of it until this night, and the way Amber was speaking to it just confirmed that it was an Autobot.

'I'm not a dog'

'Could have fooled me'

There was a tensity between the two girls that could easily turn into a fight if the other decided to say the wrong words,Bumblebee would have scratched his head if he was transformed, he didn't think that the girl who had sappousedly sided with the Decepticons would be at Devon's, as far as he knew there was no connection between the two.

'Wait! What? What's she doing here?'

'That's none of your Bee's Wax-You rust heap!'

Holly replied shortly, her anger towards the Autobots showed in her voice and on her face, she didn't want to be near one let alone two and now her mood was quickly dropping into one that would allow her to snap at anyone,even if all they did was say hello. Bumblebee ignored the comment as he thought of how lucky he was to have stumbled upon the girl here,if he was able to get her back to the base then they would finally be able to finish the Decepticons off and end the war!

'This' Great! Quick, lets get her back to the base before the Decepticons show up!'

Bumblebee was excited but fell silent as the angery roar of an engine broke the night air,it revved several times and sounded as if it were really close. Both Amber and Holly knew what was causing it and both seemed to move back,expecting the same thing. The garage door was suddenly ripped off,flipping through the air once before landing almost where Holly had been standing-reversing quickly out of the confinds was a blue Tundra,which spun half around and threw gravel all over the hood of the Camaro.

'Too Late'

Beatdown growled,he was not going to let the Autobots take anyone anywhere,it was bad enough that he was probably going to be scrapped by Megatron at the end of all this. Devon came bounding out of the house at the sudden loud noise and skidded to a stop as he saw what had happened to the garage,holding his head with his hands he was freaking out.

'What have you done to my Garage!'

Though he was upset over the damage to his home he was also concerned about what was going on at the same time,he fell silent for a moment knowing his question would go unanswered though it was obvious what was going on-he deffinatly wanted everyone gone, it wouldn't take much for all this noise to attract unwanted attention. Man, how was he going to explain this to his parents? He was so going to get in trouble, if he survived the night,he eyeballed Amber,that would really depend on how well she had 'trained' the confused Autobot.

'We didn't agree to this!'

Freeway came flying out after Beatdown and transformed, coming to a stop infront of the tundra-Beatdown growled liking this situation less and less as the minutes ticked past.

'I agreed to nothing'

'Liar!'

Freeway shoved a finger into Beatdown's hood,she then decided that it wasn't worth her effort to persue the arguement with the Decepticon and stepped back crossing her arms over her chest. Bumblebee also transformed now, he brought his gun level with the Decepticon and glared angerly at him-he would shoot if the truck made any move to transform or attack anyone present.

'Stupid. Over-reacting. Autobots!'

Beatdown hissed, he should just transform and finish them both off, he probably could do it but that would require effort, effort he wasn't at the moment willing to put forth.

'Don't move!'

Bumblebee ordered,though he really hadn't needed to say so as it was pretty obvious that that's what he was aiming at when he pulled his gun on the tundra.

'Wouldn't dream of it'

Beatdown replied dryly,he may not be intending to attack back but he was not going to show these fools any reason for them to take him lightly,as far as they knew he would attack the moment they weren't looking and that was the way he would keep it. Devon looked up at the two robots in his driveway and flared his arms as he jumped from one foot to the other trying to catch their attention.

'Transform! Transform! Before someone see's you!'

'Its the middle of the night, who's going to see us?'

Bumblebee asked,it was pretty late and even most of the humans who seemed nocturnal should be heading to their beds-however this caused Amber to growl as she knew full well that on the weekend not only were there random people walking around but that the Decepticons were probably looking for the run-aways,and with an aerial advantage they would be spotted quickly. Her mind was racing, a thought was brought to the surface of her mind,perhaps having this happen could work in her favor but she would have to choose her wording carefully,well more with the Decepticon,he would probably be the hardest to deal with.

'Lets see,since you're in a middle of a war, what about Decepticon patrol or even another random Autobot or who knows some other robot from some random faction that could possibly exist, and the list goes on from there'

Devon tried to take charge of the situation once again,hoping that reminding the robots of the logical reasons as to why standing in the middle of a neighbourhood as they were was a bad idea would get them all to calm down a little. Freeway didn't want to but she glanced to Amber and saw that she had a strange look on her face,she walked past Devon to stand next to the girl before shooting Bumblebee a dark look.

'The humans got a point. We don't want to attract attention to the humans. If anything happened to them Optimus would probably be very disappointed in us...amongst other things'

Bumblebee looked hesitant,he didn't want to become unarmed and then deal with the Decepticon attacking as it was an oppertune moment. Frusterated at the stubborn camaro,Freeway shook her head and transformed so that she looked like Amber had just gotten off of a motorcycle.She wished Bumblebee would do the same as well, she didn't feel like dying because of his stubborness. She slowly returned her attention to Amber who silently mouthed a message to her 'I have a plan' was what she said though it looked more like she had said 'I huff I Blan'. Amber took a step foreward,with a fake look of concern for the robots though she needed to try and convince the others that she was about to suggest was for the betterment of all of them,not just for her own goals.

'Stupid Robots! well, we can assume that Bumblebee won't leave without me and I'm not going anywhere without Holly'

The air was almost instantly filled with loud complaints coming from the three mostly involved in this bad idea.

'Over my deactivated and rusted body will I allow you to take her straight to those idiots'

'I can't take this dump truck to the base! I would get in so much trouble!'

'There's no way in hell I'm going to those jerk's base! They killed-'

'SHUT UP! Let me finish!'

Amber growled, she had been told by Holly why she,Chris,and Beatdown where at Devon's-and knew that if Beatdown was to be taken to the Autobot base he probably would be screwed,seeing that he wouldn't have as much leverage to perserve his life,as far as Amber knew Beatdown was a 'pure' Decepticon,which would constitute him with a worse punishment then Hammershot's. Then there was Chris, he would probably not let Holly out of his sights incase she did something stupid again, that and he would want to find away to stay alive and since she had what the robots wanted,it ment that as long as she was alive so would he. And then Holly...she was just not stable...She really needed to be left alone long enough for her to deal with everything, but with everyone jumping down her throat for the code or threatening to kill her, she wasn't dealing and it was only making her worse-she was probably on the brink of snapping,she already was more then what one would call 'moody'. At the Autobot base she technically would be safe-at least people wouldn't be threatening to kill her-but she wouldn't be left alone either, and probably bothered more then she had been so far. Sighing inwardly,Amber would just have to find away to make sure no one talked to Holly until she had a chance to rest and get over everything...if she could do it with Hammershot, she should be able to do it with her friend...she hoped...

'Okay! I have an idea! Beatdown will you come to the base with us under the pretenses that you were captured?'

'No.'

'Right, I thought not. Then there's only one other choice-Bumblebee,Freeway-If I bring Holly to the base will you forget that you ever saw Beatdown?'

Bumblebee glanced over to Freeway, they seemed to be thinking it over, it seemed like a fair trade but there was a problem-they couldn't trust the Decepticon to not follow them and discover where the base was located,though he might get captured for real then...

'We can probably do that'

'And where am I going to go?'

Beatdown growled, though he had already working on a plan to get himself out of this mess without the help of the others, and he was deffinatly not going to share it with any standing around him at the moment.

'You can stay at Devon's'

'No he can't'

Devon replied quickly,he did not want to deal with the truck hanging around his house for who knows how long and knowing the way things were going it would probably be about a week. However, as he side glanced to Amber he knew that she was up to something and sighed in a defeated tone, he wouldn't be given much a choice in this plan that she seemed to have come up with.

'Too bad'

Was Amber's reply, she then gave a slight chuckle as she knew that Devon wasn't going to give her any more trouble.

'Besides, the chances of anyone finding him here would be slim,after all who in this war randomly shows up?'

'Or he could just go back to the Decepticons'

'Keh. Yea, if I feel like being Megatron's next chew toy'

Beatdown replied darkly, returning to the Decepticons empty handed would be worse for him then being found in a human's garage or going to the Autobots but decided not to announce that fact to the others.

Devon glanced to Holly to see how she was dealing with all of this, she had moved away from the garage and now stood near the wood pile where the family camper useually sat-but was gone for the weekend as Devon's family had taken it to go camping. He knew what she was planning, she was going to bolt,to get away from all of them and probably get herself in more trouble.

'I'm not going anywhere!'

Holly declared before dashing towards the street but Bumblebee moved quickly, rolling once to get infront of the girl, she skidded to a hault and glared up at the robot.

'You can't leave'

'Watch me!'

'Listen...If you run away we won't be able to protect you if something should happen'

'I don't need YOU or anyone to protect me!'

'You would rather be out on your own?'

'Yes!'

While Bumblebee tried to keep Holly there until an agreement was reached Amber turned to Freeway and spoke under her breath to the female.

'Go ahead of us and tell Optimus we'll be coming and could you also tell everyone not to mension Hammershot or that he's alive and there?'

'okay...but why?'

'Just...it would be bad'

'Alright'

Freeway took off down the street,passing her friend as he watched Holly kick him in the shin in an attempt to get him to move and do little more then hurt her own foot. Getting annoyed with not getting what she wanted,Holly spun around on heel and dashed straight towards the house.

'Stop!'

'No! Go AWAY!'

Holly dashed past Beatdown who did nothing but groan, she was almost at the front door when a figure stepped out into her path. Chris looked bored but didn't move as Holly nearly collided with him.

'What's going on?'

'Chris! Amber's trying to take us to the Autobots!'

'Really?'

'Yea and they've made a plan, Lookit Amber! That's her 'I've-got-something-up-my-sleeve' look!'

'So,I don't get a say in this?'

Chris stepped past Holly,putting himself between the others and the girl,he glared at the others-he wasn't too keen on going to the Autobots as he didn't know what they would do to him but assumed it probably wouldn't be much better then what the Decepticons would. He did consider the fact that he might be able to learn some more of what they had gotten themselves into and find other ways of keeping himself alive without Holly who seemed ready to die for the stupid robots. He was silent waiting for a reply but figured it wouldn't come, his eyes trained upon Amber and narrowed-she looked as if she was trying to keep herself from spitting out something. It was true,Amber wanted to rant at Chris but kept her teeth clenched,getting into it with him now wouldn't do her any good and would probably make dealing with Holly much more stressful later.

'Then its settled?'

Devon stepped between the two incase they started out in a fight or something worse, the group generally didn't look happy to be around each other nor to be put in such a situation as they had, but if it made them all go away then he was happy.

'Beatdown will stay with me for now-Bumblebee and Freeway haven't seen the truck,and have no idea where he could be-Amber will take Holly and by no choice Chris to Optimus and the other Autobots-where they will deal with what to do next there and everyone is away from me!'

Silence,Holly now laid on the lawn starring at the sky, she didn't want to go and had stopped talking to everyone by this point, she felt so alone despite the fact she was surrounded by her friends.

Amber was squinting now,her eyesight was still off but it was returning and as she turned to face people she could make them out a little better then before. No one spoke for a long time and Devon nodded as he took that to mean that no one was complaining.

'Good. now then, since you're already transformed,Bumblebee-you can help me fix my garage'

'Me? But I didn't'

'It'll look funny if two giant robots were fixing my house instead of one'

'..fine...'

Devon wasn't going to let them leave until they had fixed the damage that had been done to the house. Holly stood back to her feet and was followed by Chris as they entered the house-the others didn't seem to have problem with them leaving,as it was probably safer if they were inside and out of plain sight.

While the others worked on the damage to Devon's house,Chris and Holly went to wait in the living room. Chris took the armchair and made himself comfortable as Holly flopped onto the couch,feeling how tired she really was finally catching up to her.

'Chris?'

'Hmmmm'

'Is it wrong to die for someone else?'

Chris looked down to Holly and pondered what she ment, he had a good idea what she was talking about-slowly he raised his eyes to the window behind them. The night sky was beginning to lighten-dawn was approaching-he wondered what awaited them at the Autobot base and if any of this would even make a difference. He was tired, too tired to remember who was at the Autobot base,walking amongst them as one of their own-perhaps if he did,he would have given more of a fight against being dragged there.

'It depends,Holly,how much the person matters to you. I'd tell you to what feels right to you and don't listen to anyone else'

'Okay. And Chris?'

'what?'

'Thanks'

Chris turned his attention to Holly as she rolled onto her side, she was a fool but knew that no matter what would happen that would never change,they'd been in some strange situations before,and this was no exception,they just had to stay alive for it. And now all those who had been at Devon's that night shared a common secret,one that would either save them or result in their end...either way...things were about to change...


	37. Chapter ThirtySix: We Start Again

Chapter 36: We Start Again.

Blitz-Gear walked along side Ali,he had yet to announce her presence to Prime but decided to let her have a break first and show her that not everyone in this war was interested in the humans because of their value against the other side. Ali had pretty much passed out from exaustion on the ride to the base,after a much heated arguement with the car,she had finally come to the comprimise that she would go with him as long as he promised to do something for her later-he agreed to that though had yet to find out what Ali wanted in return. As much as she hadn't wanted to be dragged to the Autobot base,she didn't want to die even more which was half of her reasoning,the other half was that she was just too tired to care at the point the confrontation had taken place. Now,rested and feeling more like herself,Ali found herself being lead to meet the Autobot leader-something she was almost looking foreward to,she'd seen Megatron and wondered if this guy was anything like him,either way,she was sure that her life would be forever more complicated now that she was there. It hadn't taken her long to begin to wonder if they would have the unfortunate luck to run across the two people she knew was there and did not want to run into if she could help it at all-if Crusher or Liane saw her there, there might be a bigger problem for them all then what seemed apparent.

'Where is everyone?'

Blitz-Gear pondered aloud to himself as he realized that they should have run into someone by this point,it wasn't like he had walked in through the main entrance,they had entered the base through one of the little known emergancy exits that needed more security then a small easily overridden password locked door. Ali glanced over her shoulder,eyes narrowed as she tried to think of what might have happened and figured that perhaps they were going to be ambushed because the Autobots thought they were intruders.

'Is something going on? Or maybe everyone finally grew a brain and packed up and left'

She commented with a snicker but Blitz-Gear shook his head 'No',though he did ponder if maybe the human had a point about the something else going on to distract the Autobots there. Coming to a stop, he placed one foot infront of Ali before looking down the corridor ahead of them,there had been a faint noise that caught his attention. There was another hallway that conjoined onto the one they currently walked only three yards ahead of them and whatever was causing the strange noise was coming from down that hall-the pair fell deathly silent as they tensed,not knowing what to expect. Ali glared as she balled her fists tightly,she may be only a easily squishable human but she was not about to act it, she would attack whatever it was even if it happened to be a fifty foot robot.

'EEEEEEEEEEE!!!'

Blitz-Gear tilted his head slightly as the sound began to grow louder and closer, what the hell was that annoying noise? Lowering his stance, he readied himself for an attack-whatever that was was not from any Autobot he had met,it must have been a real intruder.

'HELP!'

Skidding around the corner was a human boy,running at top speed with a very freaked expression on his face-he looked slightly relieved to see the red and silver robot and red headed girl-though he had absolutely no idea who they were.

'Please! Help me!'

Curtis flew between Blitz-Gear's legs and dove for cover behind Ali-who spun around glared down at the strange boy.

'Okay!'

She bent down and gave him several punches,all hitting the same spot causing as much pain as possible-Curtis yelped in surprise,what was this girl doing? Blitz-Gear watched as what the boy had been running frome rounded the corner as well and wasn't all that surprised-Ramhorn seemed to be after the boy for some reason. Charging straight at them the cassette bot seemed to not even care that there was a larger bot in his way,he was in a type of frenzy.

'What did you do!?'

Blitz-Gear muttered as he bent down to form a barricade between the humans and raging rhino,also bracing himself as he prepared for the impact.

'Its not y fault! He shouldn't be sleeping around dark corners!'

'Stop whining and face him like a man!'

Ali punched Curtis two more times before she felt that it was enough for now-Curtis was still confused as to why the girl was attacking him. Ramhorn slammed into Blitz-Gear,taking several steps back he was going to try to jump over the larger bot but the car reached out and grabbed the cassette before he could do that.

'Calm down Rammie-Trust me,that human isn't worth your time'

'Hey!'

'What? You perfer I'd let him impale you?'

'uh...no'

'Right. Then lets go get this guy back to Blaster then'

Blitz-Gear swung Ramhorn onto his shoulder before standing again and beginning to walk foreward, at least that answered one question-the base wasn't under attack. Curtis stood up and tried to straighten himself before falling to the robot walking away.

'You're going the wrong way. Blaster's with the others in the conference room waiting for Bumblebee's return'

'hmmm? Why?'

Curtis furrowed an eyebrow, didn't this guy know what was going on? Ali smacked the boy in the head again and growled in away that ment he'd better give them answers.

'Ouch! Okay,okay,geez-I'll tell you if you get this crazy girl away from me!!''

'CRAZYY!!'

Ali smacked Curtis again,harder this time and frowned when she heard a strange pop come from him.

'Okay,Ali...we don't want to maime him so badly that he can't tell us what's going on'

'Yea,listen to that guy'

'What-Ever'

Ali growled and stormed away from the strange boy, Curtis sighed,expecting another attack but when none came, he sighed again and was more relieved.

'He's bringing Holly back-She's the one with the thing everyone wants,incase you didn't know'

'Really. Then we should head in that direction'

Blitz-Gear was amused, but it was Ali who was more surprised by this news-what was Holly doing there? Why was she there? Had she really betrayed the Decepticons? And where was Chris?

'C'mon,I've got to head there as well'

Curtis began to jog back down the hall the two he had just met ran into had come from-Blitz-Gear nodded and followed,Ali moved as well though her mind was no longer on what she was doing.

'Do either of you know Holly?'

Curtis asked,trying to make conversation as they went,Blitz-Gear shook his head, he had only heard of her through his 'contact'. The truth was Blitz-Gear wasn't staying at this base, he was actually stationed with another group of Autobots. And it was through his 'contact' that he even knew what was going on here,but it didn't seem to matter much now as it seemed that Optimus had what they needed. He wondered if Magnus had even gotten a chance to contact the Autobot leader to let him know that Blitz-Gear would be arriving-otherwise it might be harder for him to explain why he had randomly shown up with a strange girl connected with the Decepticons.

'I do'

Ali replied darkly after the question had sunk in, she would finally be able to give Holly a piece of her mind, THEN she would find out what was going on with her friend.

'Cools! She'll probably be surprised to see us then!'

'Keh..right...'

Bumblebee walked ahead of the humans,he had been instructed to escort them to the conference room where probably half the Autobot team awaited them. He didn't know if that was a good plan but he sappoused that htey had no idea what had been planned earlier. Holly walked with her head hung, to her left was Chris who was carefully tracking the way they entered incase they had to flee again. On the right of Holly was Amber who growled angerly the whole time they walked-her eyes were still clouded but it was obvious that in another day or two she would see properly again. All were quiet,and probably lost in their own worlds, but now was not the time for that. Bumblebee came to a sudden stop and glanced down at the humans, they were almost at the conference room-he wanted to make sure everyone was alright first.

'You guys ready for this?'

'What does it matter, I'm...'

'Holly,Shut up'

Chris snapped suddenly before turning his gaze upon the robot.

'It doesn't matter if we're ready? Are you?'

Bumblebee nodded, glancing to the girls looking as if he wanted to say something else but decided against it and continued onwards-he had a feeling that everyone's nerves were going to be worn thin in the next couple of hours.

The doors swung open to reveal the normally spacious room to now be crowded by several bots-Optimus,Jazz,Prowl,Ironhide,Blurr,Blaster and Pomperous all turned as they noticed Bumblebee enter. Now looking defiant, the humans stood behind the camaro,glaring at those in the room.

'Move aside Bumblebee so that the humans may enter'

Prowl spoke as he and Ironhide stepped forth-Bumblebee glanced back before doing as he was told.

'Itsheritsheritsher-whathappenedwhyisshelookingatuslikethatthatthat!?'  
'Shut up,Blurr'

'Maybe she doesn't like yer ugly mug'

Blaster joked as he slapped Pomperous on the back,who only scowled and moved away from the other.

'What I want to know is why those slaggin' Decepti-creeps let her out of their sights'

Ironhide muttered,shutting the door behind the humans.

'If we jump down her throat,she won't tell us anything'

Optimus said calmly as he kept his gaze fixed upon Holly-scowling even more,she was surprised to find herself feeling more uneasy about being trapped in a room with the Autobots more then she had when it had happened with the Decepticons.

'Yah,Like who is this fellah with her'

Jazz smirked,looking directly at a very disgruntled Chris,he didn't do more then pull a long face and shook his head a little. The humans came to a stop near the center of the room,feeling rather intimidated by the surrounding giants-Amber didn't seem bothered but kept her head bowed so that the expression on her face was harder to read, she was waiting to see who would mension the code first. Optimus approached slowly,holding out his hands in a gesture that showed that he ment no harm to the two new humans.

'I am glad that you are alright,both of you. My name is Optimus Prime and as leader of the Autobots,I would like to welcome you to our home. I don't want you to think that you're being kept here as prisoners-you may go where you wish as long as its within the safety of our base. Feel free to ask me any questions or don't be afraid to come to me if you would like to speak about anything. I will help to the best of my ablities.'

'Okay...'

Holly shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms over her chest-her look of anger towards the Autobots never ceasing.

'If we're so 'free' then why is it we're trapped inside of this dump'

'I already told you-its dangerous up here, and I'm not worried just about the-'

'I'm not a baby. Stop treating me like I need someone to always be looking over my shoulder to make sure I'm not doing something I shouldn't!'

'No one is treating you like anything less then you are'

Chris snickered but was ignored as Holly's growl drowned him out.

'Now I don't know if you're insulting me'

Optimus looked as if he were about to say something in his defense when Pomperous stepped foreward.

'Listen,human,Learn your place and act a little more grateful. If it weren't for Optimus you wouldn't be here and you'd be dead'

'Pomperous,enough'

Optimus growled, knowing that the subaru wasn't making the situation any better, Holly's scowl darkened and she looked like she might actually attack one of the Autobots.

'No,Prime-We all know she's only useful for one thing-'

'Pomperous'

'And if she wants to act like a snotty nosed little brat then she should be treated as such'

'Enough!'

'We should stop wasting time and just get the-'

There was a loud 'Pop' as Pomperous was sent to the ground in a heap,all optics and eyes quickly trained upon the one who had shut the ignorant bot up.

'What? He had a spider on his back'

Jazz acted surprised that everyone was now starring at him, there was a collective nod of gratitude and none seemed to care about Pomperous. Optimus turned his attention back to Holly and sighed,he understood that she wouldn't give them what they wanted right away as she probably didn't even trust them and after the subaru's outburst she had a right not to. It was vital and it wouldn't be long before Megatron had figured out that the girl was with the Autobots and would do anything to get her back,he also knew that Megatron would kill the girl for what she knew and he had to keep that from happening as well. Optimus decided that he wouldn't press the girl for it, and would let her take her time,however he couldn't risk having something happen to her while she was with them.

'I hope you understand my concern,and until you feel more comfortable I'll have someone escort you'

'Ah,Freedom where did you go'

Holly replied dryly, this time Optimus had nothing to say to her comment, he figured it would only push her further away from him. He also had to decide who would be best to keep an eye on the girl, someone who wouldn't bug her about the code and she would feel comfortable around...someone like...


	38. Chapter ThirtySeven: The Shake Down

Chapter 37: The shake down

It was a complete waste of his time, he had other things he could be doing-but instead he was escorting the humans, which was just a fancy way of saying 'Babysitting' them. Prowl groaned,it was going to be a long day-at least the humans were all silent and not chattering on constantly,though he wasn't entirely sure if this was a good thing. Chris still had no idea what his fate was but at least the robots seemed to have ignored his presence there,and that suited him just fine-the easier it would be for him to slip away should anything go wrong. For a moment his mind went to Beatdown, he was with Devon now and wondered how long the truck would be able to stand the cooky man-probably not for very long if Devon insisted on visiting him often. Glancing to Holly, Chris frowned slightly,he hated how she'd begun to conceal her thoughts from her face-he had no idea what was running through her mind any more nor what she planned to do now that they were where they were...if she planned on doing anything at all. And then there was Amber, who was watching him as if she thought that he may stab them in the back at a second's notice. It was a tempting thought, but he knew that unless he had a way to get out of the consequences that the best thing for him to do for now was play along and see what happens. Chris' thoughts were jarred when he nearly walked into the back of the robot's leg-growling lightly at how the stupid things would suddenly just stop, with them being much larger then the rest of them he had to walk faster just to keep up,which made his reaction time a little slower. The two girls had also come to a stop-the three of them looked about in hopes to see the reason for their 'guard's sudden stop.

'AMBER!'

Curtis called as he dashed ahead of the three he was travelling with-Amber moved infront of Holly instinctively and saw a glimpse of the shocked look on her friend's face at seeing the one running towards them.

'Freeway,told me you wanted to-'

'Yes. Thanks Curtis'

'Haha. No prob...Hey...HOLLY! and uh...um...Guy who Holly knows'

'M'name's Chris'

Curtis laughed and looked sheepish for forgetting Chris' name, he stopped a few feet infront of the three and smiled widely at them at the same time was surprised that neither girl had attacked him with pokes and tickles.

'So...Curtis' with the Autobots as well?'

Holly's voice was unreadable but her face didn't look as upset as it had moments earlier,though she did look slightly withdrawn at the sight of Curtis.

'Yeps! Oh and you were right about my car'

'Huh...Oh...When I told you it was alive'

'Yes. And at the time I just thought you were being dillusional again.'  
'...thanks?'  
Prowl watched the red Ferrari approach,Ramhorn slumped over one shoulder like he had been hog tied and caught by some wranglers.

'Hey Prowl.'

'What are YOU doing here?'

'Came to say 'Hi', didn't you miss me?'

'Honestly?'

'Yea!'

'No'

'Aw...Prowl...'

'Now,answer my question'

Blitz-Gear shook his head and scratched his chin looking thoughtful for a moment as he came to a stop infront of the others.

'I have someone I want Optimus to meet'

'And who's that?'

It was Chris who noticed her,stepping into view from behind Blitz-Gear's leg, she glared angerly at the group ahead of her and released a deep throated growl.  
'Uh..Holly...'  
'What?'

Holly turned to see what Chris had and what made him sound suddenly so worried-all she had to see was the red hair to know. Eyes going wide she gave a small gasp of surprise,she glanced to Chris at the same time he did her and both had the same expression on their faces-They then spun on heel and took off like their heels were on fire. Prowl watched the two humans running off, he opened his mouth to ask them where they thought the were going but stopped as he saw the red head taking off after them,she may have been shorter then the pair but she sure moved quicker then she looked like she should.

'I'm Gonna Kill You BoTH!'

Ali declared as she began to gain ground on the pair, she didn't even bother to stop as she passed Amber and Curtis,instead she just focused on those running away from her which caused her to growl more in frusteration.

'Great...'

Prowl wasn't in the mood to chase down the humans and he had no idea if he should step in or not, it almost looked as if they were just goofing off but at the same time they all looked serious and the one red head had threatened to kill the other two.

'Let them be'

Amber said,knowing the bots would see it as something more then it really was-but what was curious to Amber was the fact that Ali was there at all and she wanted to ask the firey red head, but later once she'd cooled down a little. For the time, it was just amusing and she again wished her eyesight would completly return,she could see almost everything it was just tinted strange colours and still a little blurry.

'What!?'

Prowl looked squarely down at Amber, Blitz-Gear laughed loudly and caught the tacticians attention.  
'Yea,Prowl, let the humans be. They need a chance to exercise and vent whatever emotions they may be feeling, I mean, do you think they can actually run around like this any other place? I doubt the Decepticons would be so accomidating as to have a bunch of humans running around like children.'

Blitz-Gear commented with a chuckle, only laughing once more as he saw the look on Prowl's face-who was still unsure of if he should let the humans continue on.

'Hey,Amber...do you know why that red head so violent?"

Curtis asked sounding slightly concerned now that he saw that Holly was slowing down and losing pace with Chris,she was almost in reach of the crazy red head.

'Because it is Ali and that's all that needs to be known'

'Uh...okay...'

Amber then tilted her head, her eyesight began to fade in and out, she was still very tired and now that everyone was back at the Autobot base she could relax a little-not have to worry about someone getting themselves killed.

'Curtis, I want you to stay with Holly, don't let anyone talk to her, though I think Chris and Ali will help you there'

'Okay. But what about you? Where are you going?'

'To see Hammershot'

'Oh...Oh?...OH!'

Curtis wasn't entirely sure why Amber was going back to the Hummer but knew better then to question it. Amber took one glance back to her friends and smirked slightly before she dashed towards the hall she knew would eventually lead her down to the holding cells-she hoped that Hammershot would listen to what she had to say to him, but wouldn't be surprised if he didn't after the way they ended their previous conversation.

Chris was always the fastest of the three and came as no surprise when he took the lead in the race. Holly was still too tired to be running like her life depended on it (Ali is alot scarier the Megatron on a good day) and could feel Ali gaining on her with each step. She would never be able to put distance between her and Ali and it was only a matter of time before she was caught. Making a quick decision she thrust all her energy into one last ditch effort to save herself-throwing herself foreward onto the ground, she skid across it for several feet before coming to a stop. Chris, thinking that he was safe, slowed and turned around expecting to see Ali and Holly in a death match-instead he saw Ali coming straight at him. Pulling a face,he spun around,flailing his arms as the red head should have collided with him. Ali was growling as she tumbled through the air and came to a land on her back-Chris then dashed back towards the defeated Holly as Ali growled again and got back to her feet.

'That's it! You're going to pay for that!'

She charged after her friend with a glint of death in her eyes-Chris chuckled tauntingly as he knew Ali would never be able to catch him,he lept over Holly and sneered.

'You're weak Holly'

'I'm not weak, just smart'

'Keh'Unfortunatly Chris couldn't say more as Ali was now gaining on him. Unlike Chris,Ali stepped on Holly's back with her casted foot-gaining a very painfilled yell of surprise from the fallen girl. It seemed to go unnoticed by Ali (though she had done it on purpose) and Chris as they raced further down the opposite hallway. Slowly Holly moved, she felt pain race through her back but was sure that nothing was seriously damaged or broken. Ali had done her job, since Holly had fallen to the floor in defeat, she was igonored-viewed as not worth it when there was a real challange around. That was not saying Ali wasn't going to come back, she was just distracted by Chris.

'Glad I'm not human'

Blitz-Gear commented after awhile, he began to head towards the conference room once more, deciding to let Ali have her 'fun' with her friends while he went to track down Blaster and return the cassette bot who seemed semi content with where it rested on his shoulder.

'You think Blaster's still in the ol' Grill room?'

'Conference'

'What?'

'Its not a 'Grill' room. Its a conference room'

'Riiiight. You keep telling yourself that Prowlie...I'm going to return this lil' guy to his daddy...watch Ali for me, huh?'

Blitz-Gear walked past Prowl smirking as he knew his 'Prowlie' had touched a nerve with the tactician, he then paused and looked worried for a moment.

'Hope four Humans aren't too much for you to handle for a few minutes'

'Some how I think I'll survive'

'Is that so?'

with that Blitz-Gear turned his back to the group and walked away whistling an eerily jaunty tune. Prowl shook his head in dismay,glad that the strange Ferrari was leaving but disgruntled to know that he would be back and even more so that he now had to watch a bunch of hyper humans.

'What sort of foolery is Ultra Magnus letting happen under his watch?'

He muttered to himself, he stared at Holly and Curtis then to Chris and Ali down at the end of the hall...it was going to be a very long day indeed.

Amber moved as swiftly as possible, having no remorse for leaving the Autobots with the four friends-as if having an Ali on the war path wasn't hard enough, then they should have fun with the others who were also in various degrees of different moods. Too bad she was about to see what kind of mind set Holly's stupid Hummer was in-and maybe tell him the news. That was, if she was in the mood or someone strong was there-on that note, who exactly was there? Hadn't Curtis been told to stay guard while she was gone? This caused Amber to quicken her pace, she already had to go track down those who had ambushed them in the conference room.

'Dammit Curtis...what are you doing'

She hopped off the last step leading to the holding cells, and dashed around the corner.

'What are you doing here?'

Freeway asked with a slight irratated tone to her voice, who was she talking to? Amber didn't have to wait long to discover the answer to that question.

'We just wanted some fun'

Came Sunstreaker's reply.

'Well, go do it elsewhere'

'Aw...but Freeway'

'No 'Aws-but-Freeways', this isn't the rec-room'

'Sure it is!'

Sideswipe chuckled-on his shoulder he had propped a very large cannon and he needed his brother's help in carring it. Freeway sighed and shook her head, placing a hand on her face in exasperation.

'Just...take that...out of here. What are you doing with it anyways?'

'Pretending to be Hammershot'

Sunstreaker replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.

'You...Nevermind...I don't think I want to know...just get out of here"

The twins glanced to each other, disappointed that the female wasn't sharing in their fun, but then a thought struck Sideswipe which caused a large grin to spread across his face.

'Lets go find WheelJack!'

'Wha-'

'you know...'

'Uh...no...'

The pair fell silent for a few moments as Sunstreaker realized what his brother was getting at.

'Oh. Okay,let's go'

The struggled for a moment with the weight of the cannon on their shoulders then managed to move foreward. Freeway sighed,knowing Ironhide would be furious with them once he realized the weapon was missing. However,as long as they were going Freeway had no desire to try and talk some sense into the pair. They past Amber without even noticing her, or if they had perhaps thought that she would only tell them off and ignored her on purpose, they quickly disappered up the stairs. Once they were gone Amber entered the room and saw Freeway looking disgruntled-he hated the fact that she was so much shorter then the others as she wasn't ever taken seriously but at the same time, she could get away with alot more.

'Having fun?'

Amber asked in a monotone voice, she glanced to the door where Hammershot was being held.

'I guess. Its been annoying how the moment I get here 'They' decide to show up'

She paused as she noticed that Amber wasn't even really paying attention to her and was just starring at the door,she sighed again and without a single word moved over to the control panel.

'I think he's expecting you'

She pressed the button and the door opened slightly, enough for the human to enter the near dark room...


	39. Chapter ThirtyEight: Fate's Funny Follie

Chapter 38: Fate's Funny Follies

Ali hissed angerly as she lost her footing again and lost what little grip she had on the back of Chris' shirt-He gulped for air as she had been cholking him by pulling back. He managed to twist around in a way to free himself of Ali's grasp and didn't hesitate to leap away-Ali was sent tumbling to the ground,landing on her hip and elbow and promptly releasing a string of curses before rolling ongot her back and pulling a very dark face. Chris sighed, before allowing himself to gloat-he had won the battle but the war was still ongoing-his victory would be short lived for sure. Careful to keep his distance he approached to see if his friend was alright, she was down and probably wouldn't be chasing him again for a while but she was far from being out-she still could attack him.

'Chris! I'm going to dig your heart out with a spoon and force you to eat it!'

She threatened through clenched teeth, this only caused Chris to chortle mockingly,standing in a taunting stance just out of her reach.

'There is NO spoon!'

Holly replied with a loud call, she was slowly pulling herself into a kneeling position and looked almost playful,minus the dark look in her eyes. It was at this point that Curtis decided to approach his friend, seeing if she was alright and wondering if he should comment on what had just happened.

'Are you al-'

'Grah! The Spoon!'

Ali's comment cut Curtis off, she then rolled onto her stomach and glared at Holly in an acussingly way-who of course only gave her a large toothy grin. Prowl stared down at the humans, he had no idea what was going on-first it seemed as if the red head was attacking the others, now they seemed to be laughing at some sort of joke. These humans were very confusing and Prowl huffed, why had he been chosen for this? He then decided to try and head towards another part of the base, he wanted to get away from a highly used hallway and to lessen the chances of them running into any problems. Curtis noticed the robot beginning to walk towards a side corridor,the same one Amber had slipped down earlier, though was slightly disturbed to see the robot was still watching them the whole time he walked.

'Prowl-where are you going!?'

Curtis called as he offered his hand to Holly in an attempt to help her to her feet. She stared at his hand for a long time, if things had been different she would have tackled him-instead she frowned deeply and pushed his hand away before pulling herself to her feet.

'I'm sorry'

Curtis muttered,thinking that perhaps he'd done something wrong, Holly shook her head once and then glared at the robot.

'Not you. Them'

'wha...'

He looked to Prowl curiously, he wasn't sure what had happened between the Autobots and Holly, and he did want to ask her more but decided to wait until later-he then moved to hug her but stopped as Holly growled at him, he saw a strange dark look in her eyes. It was of frusteration,confusion and betrayle,she was not the same as he last remembered her.

'No,Curtis. I'm a Decepticon-If you're an allie with those fools then I won't allow you to touch me'

Prowl turned his gaze upon the humans, he looked as if he were going to say something to her about her statment but someone else beat him to it.

'You're a puny looking Decepticon"

Stepping out of the shadows of a conjoining hall was a familiar form of a pitch black fembot-Holly took a step back, glaring dangerously at Crusher and ignoring the human who stood at her feet. After all that had happened, Holly had completly forgotten about the pair-it really wasn't high on her priority. Ali and Chris shared the same opinion and feeling-they could be very screwed if the wrong thing was said.

'Crusher,is there a problem?'

Prowl asked, irratated and feeling his mood fall even more fowl.

'No. I was sappoused to meet Ameba to thank her for saving us-But I have no idea where she disappeared to'

'Ameba?'

Curtis perked up at the mension of his Yaris,abandoning the idea of hugging Holly, he moved foreward a few paces with a faint smile.

'I know where she is'

'You better tell us quick, before I die of old age'

Liane gripped,crossing her arms over her chest, she too had been shocked to see the others there and wanted to talk to Crusher in private to see if the Decepticon knew what was going on-why were all the humans involved with them in the Autobot base, as far as she knew they weren't sappoused to be there and they didn't look very captured.

'Uh...sure...she's um...'

Curtis closed his eyes to try and think of where the Yaris was-his thoughts were interrupted as he felt a rush of wind pass him followed by a loud growl.

'Holly-'

Curtis began as he reopened his eyes and saw who had passed him, but it was too late. Liane wasn't expecting the attack either, she managed to bring her hands up as Holly body slammed into her-throwing the blonde to the ground. Liane groaned in pain, the hatred towards her once friend filled her blue eyes.

'What the hell!'

She began, rolling out of the way as Holly attempted to kick her in the rib-cage.

'You...You're nuts!'

Liane muttered, jumping to her feet and bringing her leg around to kick Holly with a round about kick, which connected with the attacking girl. Ali and Chris glanced to each other, not once had they ever seen Holly act like this-it was as if she'd totally snapped, that all the stress and pain she had been feeling had surfaced and she was a wild animal, somone they didn't even know. Even Prowl looked unsure of what was going on-Crusher glared to Chris as if accusing him of this being his fault.

'Control your human, Prowl'

Crusher spoke darkly as she returned her dark look upon the tactician.

'They're not mine-perhaps you should leave'

'I will, not without Liane'

She glanced down to the fighting girls, Holly had Liane in a head-lock while Liane was digging her nails into Holly's exposed skin.

'Has anyone checked this human out? She's clearly got a few screws lose'

Crusher continued as she moved foreward to try and stop this scuffle from happening-the girls fell onto the ground in a ball.

'I don't know-Bumblebee just brought her here and has caused more work for me'

'This is impossible!'

Crusher growled angerly, she brought one hand down onto the two girls-pinning them both on their sides.

'What do you think you're doing!?'

Prowl demanded as he saw Crusher was crushing the humans under her hands.

'Ending this'

She replied, applying more pressure upon the pair-Liane glared up at the female as if trying to decipher just how much of this was an act and how much was her really trying to crush them under her. Holly gave a winch of pain but remained silent and fell still, she could have passed as dead if only she didn't blink every so often.

'That's enough,Crusher'

Prowl moved foreward and pulled Crusher back, she reluctantly allowed herself to be pushed away-it probably wouldn't be good if she killed the humans, especially the only one with the code. Once she was free, Liane sprang to her feet and glared down at Holly, her face contorted in anger and disgust.

'Let's go'

She said,slowly she turned to leave but stopped-her eyes went wide and a small gasp escaped her lips. Standing in her path, not making a sound but looking darkly at all those infront of him, was a well known and not expected...Brian. Shaking his head once before crossing his arms and taking in a deep breath.

'You all are annoying and in my way'

He said darkly, eying each in turn-until his gaze stopped on Liane. It had been over a year since he had seen her or even spoken to her, and the terms they had last seen each other on were not pleasant-he was not pleased to see that she was some how involved with all this now.

'Everyone has to shut up and grow up. I haven't seen a bigger bunch of pathetic babies in my life'

Brian scowled, glancing down at Holly who was now curld in a ball on the floor still, silently crying.

'And you,Holly,stop embarressing yourself. suck it up, you're acting like an over-sensative little brat who can't get what she wants. This' life. Reality hurts, get used to it and stop being your sister. No one pities you, you're just annoying and getting in everyone's way! Its not always about you, miss ' I'm-not-selfish', you're a hyprocrit! Sniviling on the floor like a weak,pathetic,self loathing noob. So, either get over yourself and grow up or get out of the way-you're just slowing things down'

No one spoke during Brian's long statement, his tone was sharp and harsh-it had ment to stab the girl with his words.

'That was a little harsh'  
Prowl commented, looking at Brian in a strange way-he had never figured the human would have been so cold to someone who knew him,they must have had been friends at one point in their past otherwise he wouldn't have mensioned the girl's family.

'But its the truth'

With that Brian walked past the group, pausing only momentarily to glance to Liane once again-

'We all have to live with out past,with our mistakes-we cannot let it consume us-or we're no better then a souless body'

He narrowed his eyes then continued on not looking at any more of them, he turned down the hall heading to the entrance to the base. There was a long pause of silence, no one knew what to say after that, they all seemed shocked and surprised at the same time.

'I want to go...'

Holly began as she stood shakily to her feet, her face was cut up and bruised-she had a cut along her nose and under her eye from the fight with Liane.

'To...I'm tired'

She finally managed to spit out, she was tired and wanted to wash away the feelings inside of her. Prowl gave a slight nod, it was probably for the best-before anything else happened. Liane looked odd for a moment, her eyes unfocused as she was hit with a sea of new thoughts and emotions that she had thought she had gotten rid of. She then turned on her heel without a word, walking the way they had come, she disappeared around a corner. Crusher looked from Chris to Ali and back again, then she too followed after Liane.

'Bah, stupid emotional humans'

She growled before she too disappeared down the hall. Curtis who had no idea what had just happened or how anyone knew each other,blinked several times before turning his attention away from the confusion-this time he wouldn't give Holly a chance as he lept at her and gave her a hug-she gave no resistance though she growled loudly.

'Where are we going to be staying?'

Chris asked Prowl, looking doubtful that they had a room for the humans to stay in, and hoped that they wouldn't be stuck someplace annoying and uncomfortable.

'For now, you'll be staying in the Rec-room'

Prowl replied, he then sighed inwardly-with a slight gesture of his hand he began to walk towards the direction of that room.

'C'mon Spaz'

Chris muttered as he bumped into Holly, who gave a slight nod-they were moving again and that was better then standing around letting things settle on them. Ali moved to walk beside Chris as Curtis and Holly trailed behind, Curtis hadn't released his hold on his friend but now held her by the arm.

'Don't worry,Holly, your friends are here for you'

he said lightly as he tried to comfort her,though he doubted that she even heard him-her eyes were dark and it was obvious that she wasn't really paying attention to what was going on any more. Her mind was a million miles away and she would have probably walked into several walls had Curtis not been there to guide her from harming herself.

Holly glanced to the ceiling as they walked,not even noticing that she was being stared at.Curtis shrugged, deciding not to bother her while she was like this-she was probably adjusting to her new surroundings. Though he did want to know why she was even there, how had Amber gotten her to the base? He was told not to mension the Hummer,so it wasn't that,and from her previous statement it was safe to say that she wasn't there on her own free will. A thought struck him and he wondered if the Autobots had thought of it as well...what if Holly was there as a spy? What if an attack on the base was coming?


	40. Chapter ThirtyNine: Don't give up!

Chapter 39: Don't give up!

The silence hung between the pair as Amber looked over the large form before her-Hammershot was laying on his back staring at the ceiling and looking bored. She snickered lightly, but he didn't even bother to turn his head to look at her, instead he continued to stare intently at the tiles above him and remained silent.

'You really look like you're using your time productively'

'Oh yes'

Came Hammershot's dry reply, he had assumed that Amber would be back, though he didn't know if it was a good thing or not.

'Has anyone visited you?'

Amber stepped foreward, she didn't want to deal with that at the moment-as she moved towards the Hummer she looked causious though just slightly, using her smirk to hide most of her uncertainity towards this robot.

'Just you. Thankfully'

'You don't want to speak with the others? To try and work out a deal?'

'Keh-right. I don't know if they told you this, but I'm a traitor-there are no 'deals' left for me'

'You could always try'

'Like that would get me anywhere'

'It might. You don't know if you don't try'

'Maybe. But I'm not that desperate...yet...'

Amber took several more steps foreward,Hammershot seemed to become more defensive in his words each time they spoke,which might be a sign that he was starting to see her as less of just an annoyance and more of a human-but Amber wouldn't assume anything,at least not yet. She gave an inward sigh, was now really the time to tell him what she wanted? Probably not, but she would see just what kind of mood he was in before she said anything,the less he knew and the more she did gave her an advantage and a footing for surviving all this. She also didn't know what sort of mess she could be unleashing-she knew that the other involved in all this was not ready, not yet-so perhaps the Hummer wasn't either? She didn't know, but she was going to find out, find out if there was anything she could do to help her friend.

'Are you hoping that someone's going to come along and save you? Or have you just given up all hope?'

'Do you honestly think my fate will be much better with Megatron? He's not as forgiving as Optimus-he may decide to scrap me along with these Auto-jerks'

'Do you want that?'

'No, but if it happens-'

'You won't fight to live?'

'I never said that'

'Then what?'

'Then what-what?'

Amber was now standing at Hammershot's shoulder, she could clearly see the scorch marks were his cannon had been forcefully removed.

'You're saying-What's lost isn't worth fighting for. You've lost your freedom so why bother trying to save yourself'

Hammershot slowly turned his head to watch the human girl-what was she trying to imply?

'Nothing lost, is ever truly lost until you give up'

'What are you saying? That I should try to break out of this place? Despite being disarmed? I do and how far can I get? I don't think you realize but we're in the middle of a war-even the Autobots will kill if they feel they have to. If I get away,I will tell the Decepticon's the location to this base and an attack will be launched upon it-Probably destroying it and many lives in the process'

'You sound like you don't want that to happen'

'Of course I do. I'm a Decepticon'

'Are you sure?'

'YES!'

Amber smirked and placed a hand on Hammershot's shoulder, the metal was cold and yet it didn't chill her, nor did the Hummer move away like she had almost expected him to. He was probably wondering what it was that she was doing.

'Hmmmmm. But how many Decepticon's would have done what you did with Holly?'

Hammershot returned his gaze to the ceiling,though a strange feeling seemed to hang in the air now.

'None'

'Indeed'

'Thundercracker and Skywarp,maybe, but even they would draw the line somewhere. And they sure as wouldn't care if she got hurt while they were with her'

'Unlike you...'

There was a long pause of silence between the pair once again. Amber with-drew her hand from the shoulder and held it to her chest-the answer should have been apparent,but Amber wanted the Hummer to actually say it, and it was that which was frusterating about this,she didn't want to assume anything where he was involved,especially.

Amber's mind quickly went back to her friends, she had probably been gone too long and knowing how quickly they seemed to get themselves in trouble,it was ten minutes too long.Slowly Amber turned to face the door again,but stopped half way there, she was certain that she could at least toy with the Hummer a little more then she would have been comfortable with earlier,but she didn't think now was the time to tell him about what she knew he would want to hear.

'Hammershot?'

'Hmmmm?'

'I DO have something to ask you...'

'What now?'

'What would you say, IF I told you that I knew for a fact that Holly was alive'

'WHAT!?'

'Alive and safe from Decepticon's'

Hammershot now sat half propped on his arms,staring intensly at Amber-who giggled playfully.

'What do you mean? How...Where is she?'

'Someplace'

'Where'

'A building'

'What building'

'A grey one'

'Gey? That could be ten thousand buildings! Which grey building!?'

'One by a mountain'

'We're in the middle of a valley'

Hammershot was growing annoyed with Amber's game, though she didn't seem to notice this as she continued to giggle.

'That's not helping-what building'

'One with people in it'

'What kind of people'

'Sentient people'

'Holly is in a grey building by a mountain inhabited by people.'

'Yes'

'Well...How is she then?'

'Purple-Waffle-Fish'

'What? How can someone BE Purple-Waffle-Fish?'

'Yellow!'

'Amber!'

Hammershot's tone was stern and revealed that he was tired of this game but it was the first time he had called her by her name. An indirect achievement in her main goal-to see just how far she could go with the Hummer. Amber giggled some more and gave a small hop, she was feeling much more better now that she knew Holly and the others were decently safe within the Autobot base. She then blinked several times and looked confused,tilting her head to one side, she was watching Hammershot carefully as he shifted into a more comfortable position.  
'If Holly is not with the Decepticons, things may become very bad for all of us'

He grumpled, though he sounded like he were more speaking to himself then to Amber.

'Megatron will stop at nothing for that code...'

Slowly Hammershot turned his attention back to Amber, heaving heavily as he leaned foreward slightly,looking as if he might hold his head like he had a headache.

'Is Holly safe?'

Amber giggled slightly,bunching her shoulders up to her ears as she smiled widely.

'Yes'

'She's safe?'

'Yes'

'Your certain'

'...Maybe...'

'What was that? Maybe?'

'Do you think I would be here if I didn't think she was safe?'

'It depends. Now are you going to tell me where she is'

'No'

Hammershot's expression darkened, he didn't appear to like being denied an answer to his question.

'Your not going to tell me'  
'She's places. We went over this already'

'I'm serious'

'And so am I.'  
'No, your talking in circles.'

Amber giggled and took another step back, looking as if she didn't want to comprehend the seriousness of the situation.

'I'm not. I'm only answering your question'

'No'

The simple reply was rather amusing and caused Amber to shake her head instead of laughing straight out.

'If you're a good boy-I'll tell you next time'

'You-What-Amber!'

The door slid open to Amber's height and she backed out of it smiling the whole time with her hands clasped behind her back.

'Amber-AMBER!'

'Be goood'

She giggled as she waved to the Hummer as the door slammed shut between them. With the door shut, Amber fell silent, she wondered if Hammershot was standing there trying to listen in on what would be said on the other side-she wouldn't blame him if he did, it would probably be wise.

She was slightly less hyper then she had been with Hammershot but still bubbily, she looked around to see that Freeway was still there-the smaller Autobot tilted her head as the human stared at her.

'Is everything alright?'

'Make sure no one talks or sees Hammershot'

'Still?'

'yesh'

'I don't know how much longer the others are going to put up with this...with you..'

'Tough'

'you do realize that they can order me out of the way,right?'

'you don't have to listen'

'Maybe'

The two fell silent for a few moments,Freeway looked to the ceiling and smiled.It was as if something was on her mind that she really liked, Amber didn't reveal what she was thinking but as she saw the fembot's expression she realized that it looked similar to one she'd seen before...

'Scout should be getting out later today'

Amber raised an eyebrow,she was torn at hearing the news-she hadn't visited him since the day she was released, and a part of her felt bad but at the same time having Scout out and noising around could mess things over for Amber.

'Okay-if you see him,tell him I say HI'

'What-You aren't going to see him?'

Amber giggled and began to dash off again,

'He's got other stuff to deal with!'

Came her reply and before Freeway could respond amber was gone-shrugging her shoulders the fembot flopped onto a chair and resumed her duty of watching the door.

Where had they gone? Amber glanced from one end of the hall to the other, but there was no sign of her friends or Prowl even. She shrugged and began to walk in a random direction-she didn't really feel like trying to find them, she was certain that she would eventually run into someone who would tell her where they had gone to. For now she could enjoy the silence-or what silence she may have before her thoughts were broken by a nusuence and in the current light of everything, it would be a real headache .

Turning a corner,Amber ran headlong into someone-tumbling back several feet, she gave a small yip of surprise.

'Amber!'

The person snapped before she had time to retaliate.Looking up,Amber saw the shadowed form of Brian and he looked pissed about something.

'Brian! guess what!? Its a party! WE're all here!'

She chipped happily,ignoring the dark look she recieved from her friend. Brian growled with frusteration,he was in no mood to deal with amber but he wanted his questions answered and unfortunatly she appeared to be the only one around who would be able to do that.

'Quit it-this is no place for your shinadigans'

'But Brian, it is! Don't you see?'

'I don't care. Amber,what is Holly doing here? Other then fighting with Liane'

'Whoa-you ran into Liane?'

'Unfortunatly'

Amber looked down the hall behind Biran,falling silent for a moment as she let the information sink in-she'd only been away from her friends for half an hour tops and things had gone screwy? Holly fought Liane? Brian and Liane ran into each other? What else had happened?

'Answer my question'

'But if Liane saw you,then she'll be off moaping and if she's doing that then she can't come to-'

'Amber-'

'I really should go find them. Later Brian'

Amber dashed away,leaving Brian with no answers and in an even worse mood then he had before-she disappeared before he could even stop her. It was late,Amber had hoped to have spent a little more time with her friends,but now she would have to just deal with a bunch of grumpy tired people who probably weren't much in the mood for having a very hyper Amber on their hands...Well, she would just have to change that...


	41. Chapter Forty: Burning Suspecion

Chapter 40: Burning Suspecion

The wash-bay was filed with the sound of loud rock music and the voice of somene who had no idea how off key they really were. Steve, a new employee to the car dealership, lept over a bucket of water and began to strum in tune to song on his air guitar-his skills were nearly flawless,if only he had managed to move his fingers closer together. Behind him the deep plum Crossfire was only half waxed-it was evidant that Steve was taking an unschedueled break from cleaning the Chrysler sports vehicle. His co-worker was currently missing, but he would be back soon-Devon had gone to drive in the next vehicle to be cleaned.

'You an me,baby,ain't nothing but mammels so lets do it like animals...'

He blurted out as the radio began to play a new song-Steve spun around to jump on the back of the car when he noticed two men standing at the bay doors. They both wore identical black suits and dark glasses-even their hair cuts were identical. The only difference between the pair was that one looked as if he had Spanish heritage in his blood. Steve instantly stopped his goofing around and looked ambarresed-he had no idea who these men were but they looked offical,from the government perhaps? He diffenatly did not like the way they were just standing there not saying a word or moving-what were their problem? Deciding that he wasn't going to be comfortable until the men left,Steve tried to smile politely and took several steps foreward.

'You lookin' for someone?'

'Are you Devon Alan Isenor?'

'Uh...No, but he'll be right back'

Steve was now curious, what had Devon done to get the men in black after him? Shrugging, he went back to working on the Crossfire but kept an eye on the men-who looked even less amused with him then before.

Devon pulled out of the lot and towards the wash bay, not too pleased in the vehicle he was driving. The hot pink chevrolet Converatable or 'fondly dubbed' the Barbie car-was not exactly the roomiest car despite its large size. It was just his luck that he would be the one to get to clean it, not only was it dirty as hell but it was one of those cars that would be a pain to get down in the smaller areas to clean. He didn't notice the men until he nearly ran them over as he pulled into the wash-bay-Steve shot his co-worker a look and it wasn't because of the brilliantly painted car,though he hoped that's what it looked like to the men.

Devon got out of the car and stared at the pair for a few moments, he had a feeling that whatever they were doing there couldn't be any good, they didn't even smile nor looked like they had a day in their lives.

'So, who's died and left me my millions?'

He smirked,finding that neither man even twitched at this mockingful comment,were they even human?

'No one'

'yet'

The replied in the same monotone voice-this really didn't make Devon feel much better, infact it just made him wonder even more what sort of mess he had been dragged into.

'Are you Devon Alan Isenor?'

'Yes'

'Will you please come with us? We need to ask you a few questions'

'Uh...I'm a little busy,we're behind and this car is-'

'It can wait'

'This is important'

Devon frowned,with a sigh he gave a nod and glanced to Steve,hoping to get his message across to his co-worker.

'If I'm not back in fifteen-Don't call the cops, just hide'

'Heh. Can do Captain'

Steve gave a salute as Devon followed the two men out of the bay and to the far end of the dealer's lot-there was a side street behind the lot,and a large black van was parked looking less then suspecious. Things just kept looking worse and worse for Devon and he was ready to see little worm like aliens jump out of the van demanding coffee or have Agent Smith appear out of no where.They came to a stop and the men stared silently at the boy for several moments, their expression never changing from their stone cold ones.

'We are sorry to bother you at your place of employment'

'But we are here in regards to your cousin,Holly'

'Yea? What about her?'

'Do you have any idea where she may be?'

That was it,Devon knew these goons were up to no good and that had just sealed it, but how had they even found him? Or knew that Holly was missing? She had left a note telling her mum that she was working down the coast on a new animated show that she had recently been accepted for. For these men to be looking for her was really bad news, but to know that they were related was even worse.

'Last I heard she was off fullfilling her dream of being a voice actor'

'We have already contacted every voice talent agency in the country, none of them have any records of employing one Holly Laine Moon.'

'Then I can't help you. We weren't really close cousins. I mean, I go months without hearing from Holly'

'We see'

'Why? Is she in some sort of trouble?'

'No,no, nothing like that'

'Just want to ask her a few questions'

'Oh. 'bout what?'

The men stole quick glances to each other before returning their attention back upon Devon.

'It is in regards to her account with our company'

Devon seemed to be sensing that there was something more sinister at play here.

'What company? If I see her, I can let her know that you're looking for her. But I can't make any promises. Holly is as wild as the wind. One minute she'll be here and the next-gone'

The men again glanced to each other, they looked slightly annoyed with the answers from Devon and also as if they didn't know if he was lying to them or telling them the truth in hopes that they would think that he was lying.

'It is fine'

'Before we do go, can you tell us if you know Amber Blaik, Christopher Winner,Curtis VanGoullery,and Kenny O'Reilley?'

Devon pulled a thoughtful looking face as if trying to remember something that hadn't seemed important to him.

'I think Amber is out at a friend's place, but who are those other people?'

'We hope they may offer us some more information'

'Thank you for your time,Devon Isenor'

The two men looked at Devon,and it took him a moment to realize they expected him to be the one to leave. Muttering an apology, he quickly turned to dash back towards his wash-bay, but not before he spotted a white and black police care sped past on the street behind them. Were these men connected to the Decepticons? It seemed doubtful, but this was just as bad, for now Barricade had seen Devon with these men and would probably be connected with them. Not only was he now probably under suspecion from whatever group these wanna-be MIB's were from, but now the Decepticons, and that...was not a good thing. He would have to be very careful on what he did and where he went from now on-he really didn't want to go to work for the rest of the week and tried to think of away to get out of doing so without looking suspecious.

He soon reached the bay and huffed again,seeming to not notice Steve who had just finished cleaing the plum car, he had been working on earlier.

'So what did those suits want?'

'They were Rare-Hunters, they wanted my Yugioh cards'

Groaning as the morning light filtered through the blinds,Kenny tried to roll onto his side and found that he couldn't.

'Bugger'

He hissed as pain raced through his entire body, he'd forgotten all about his arm. He'd been drugged up for most of the past week and so out of it that he barely remembered who he was. Glancing to the bed side table he saw that the guys from work had been by-but when? He'd not remembered any visitors,not even his girlfriend who had left a large green teddy for him.

'They better not have used skin from my ass'

He joked to himself as he thought of where they would have to graft the skin from, he also felt his rump ache but assumed it was from lying on it for far too long. Leaning his head back he sighed and closed his eyes, but it was only for a moment as the door to his room opened.

'Better be Jell-o, I'm starving'

Reopening his eyes,Kenny saw a strange woman with pink and purple hair standing at the edge of his room. He didn't reconize her but she looked 'hot' in his mind-though any woman was 'hot' to Kenny, and she did look more lost and confused then he felt.

'you're not my normal nurse'

'No,kenny, I'm sorry'

The woman replied, she knew his name? It took him a moment to realize his name was probably on the door-he chuckled at relaxed again.

'So...you looking for anyone?'

'Yes, you,Kenny'

'yea?'

'I need to get you out of here'

Kenny furrowed an eyebrow-who was this woman? And why did she want to remove him from the hospitel?

'I'm fine here thanks'

'No, you're in danger'

'Only of dying from bordum'

'Kenny. this is something to do with how you got that burn'

Kenny stopped, other then him and Brian, who else knew how'd he really gotten himself hurt? He hadn't exactly told anyone that it was because of a crazy robot jumping on him. maybe she just ment falling on the grill?

'I'm a total klutz'

'No,Frenzy helped you'

'What's a...Frenzy?'

'The thing that attacked you'

'How do you know about that? Wait...that thing has a name?"

The woman began to look around nervously, like she was expecting someone or something to burst into the room at any moment.

'That doesn't matter right now, what does is that your life is in danger and we need to get you out of here'

'erm...how?'

'Can you get dressed?'

'uh...with a little help'

'Okay! I'll help you then we can get out of this place'

'You didn't answer my question'

'Don't worry about it'

The woman crossed the room and snatched up something from the closet and tossed the pants to Kenny.

'Put these on-I'll help with the shirt'

'Gee-thanks'

The woman turned to face the wall to give Kenny some privacy as he slowly moved to pull his legs over the edge of the bed. With difficulty he managed to pull the pants on, whimpering in pain everytime he moved. There was a long pause of silence between the two,he opened his mouth to make a smart ass comment when suddenly the window shattered and he fell back onto the bed. The woman whipped around and dashed foreward with a growl-

'Kenny!'

But a red bot that now stood in the room with the two humans had other ideas,with a smirk he began to rapidly hit the floor with his odd looking arms. The woman was knocked off her feet and back into the closet,hitting her head and tumbling down.

'Now Ratbat!'

Rumble declared as the strange rodent looking bot swooped through the window and grabbed Kenny off of the bed with its talons-Kenny screamed in pain,confused and he tried to break free but it was in vain. He tried to shield his face as he was taken out the window, the bot held onto him by the arms which made the pain even more unbareable. Rumble smirked again as the woman he had knocked over groaned, she wouldn't be following them any time soon-he then took off out the window after the other cassette bot. They had aquired who they were sappoused to and without any interferance, human or Autobot. Starscream would be very pleased-he knew that this human would be key to drawing the girl out of her hiding,if he didn't know where she was and that they could force it out of him. Surely,after he was tortured,Kenny would tell them what they wante to hear...


	42. Chapter FortyOne: Wasting the Day asleep

Chapter 41: Wasting the day asleep

Chris munched on a celery stick as he leaned against a wall, Ali was sitting across the room from him,not looking pleased at all. Blitz-Gear had been by earlier to tell her that Optimus was going to talk to her and Chris-something neither looked foreward to. Amber had been in and out of the room since they all arrived there, probably doing something regarding the Hummer or dealing with the others for what they had done earlier. Curtis had been gone for a while and Amber was there for now, they had seemed to be taking shifts to make sure no one disturbed anyone currently taking up residence in the rec room. It was late afternoon of the day after the arrival of the three stray humans and Holly was still sound asleep-her lunch sat on a table near her...or what was left of it. It had been picked over by the others, they justified this by saying it was going to waste as Holly slept.

'Is she going to ever wake up?'

Curtis complained loudly as he stepped into the room-he recieved dark looks from those who were concious.

'Curtis,shut-up'

Ali growled as she cracked her knuckles dangerously, she was in no mood to deal with his...with him.

'I'm sorry'

Curtis replied, not wanting to face the red head's wrath-though he didn't think it was that bad,well from what he had seen. But to be safe,he would try to stay on her good side-if one even existed. However, the still giggily Amber fell silent and cocked her head to one side. A strange glint appeared in her eyes-no one seemed to notice but Chris,who slowly stopped munching his snack. Curtis went to sit by a large computer screen,he didn't know why everyone seemed to be so touchy-They were alive,they should be happy. His thoughts were broken as Amber spranf off her seat-flew through the air-and landed on the slumbering blob that was Holly. A loud scream of surprise broke the air as there was a flail of arms,legs,pillows,and giggling-which soon resulted in a loud 'thud' as Holly rolled off the couch to free herself from her attacker. Amber remained on the couch looking triumphant over her victory and holding her ankles with her hands. Ali snickered loudly as she enjoyed seeing Holly panic and hurt herself, it was always funny when someone other then herself was getting hurt. Chris simply sighed as he rolled his eyes and continued to munch on his snack-regretful that the peaceful and quiet times were now over. It was Curtis who looked the most disturbed by what he had just seen then he too burst into a fit of laughter.

'S'not funny'

Holly slurred,still half asleep as she forced herself to sit up.

'What's going on in here?'  
Jazz poked his head around the corner and looked slightly concerned but smiled as he saw the humans were just having fun. It was his turn to guard the group and up to this point had been very bored.

'We're playing scare Holly half to death'

Amber chuckled deviously, she had already given him a good talking to about his part in what had happened the other morning and didn't feel the need to scold him any more.

'Sounds like fun. Can I play?'

'Sure!'

'NO!'

Holly declared,waking up a little more,she pulled the blanket from under Amber.

'Look over there-Spider!'

Jazz pointed to the wall behind Holly,who gave a yelp of fear and pulled the blanket over her head. Shivering she rolled onto her side,whimpering loudly and giving other sounds of fear and mock hatred.

'I hate you all'

She growled,keeping herself tightly wrapped up in the blanket as she sensed Amber was leaning foreward off the couch. Jazz laughed, he was very amused at the girl's reaction-this was far better then standing in the boring old hall not doing anything. It was even more amusing for there hadn't really been a spider-though Amber was going to take advantage of her friend's fear.

'Its a pretty spider-lookie'

Holly screamed bloody murder,she then lept to her feet,some how managing to toss the blanket over her shoulder-smacking Ali in the head as she dashed towards the entrance of the room.

'Whoa-Lookit her move!'

Jazz commented as Holly bolted past him-Chris,however smirked and shifted his foot out a little,raised just off the ground. As Holly past him, she tripped over his foot and crashed to the ground several feet away. He then quickly tucked his foot away so that if looked as if Holly had just tripped over her own feet, but Ali and Amber knew better.

'That was a wicked face plant'

Jazz chuckled again,Ali saw her chance to get Holly while she was down-it was different from before when Holly had willingly gave up. She lunged foreward,arms posed in a menasing manner-she was almost at her target when her concintration was diverted. Optimus appeared at the doorway and looked at the scene infront of him,he remained silent for a few moments. He'd not seen the humans looking so light hearted before, they seemed to be having some fun,though it was an odd twist on the term. Curtis looked up,being one of the first to even notice they were being watched-he lept up and waved.

'Hey Opt-a-mus!'

Curtis dashed towards the Autobot leader,while Ali and Chris both glared to each other-both had the same look in their eyes, they were not looking foreward to their 'Chat' with the leader. Holly pushed herself to her feet, looking confused for a moment-she glanced from Jazz to Optimus. Her eyes went wide as if she had just seen something horrifing, she screamed loudly. The sudden scream seemed to catch Optimus off guard, he didn't know why the human was screaming until she began to run away from him.

'Aaah! Giant Robots!'

Holly yelped as she dashed to the far end of the room,hiding behind a larger chair as if she thought that it would protect her.  
'Is she alright?'

Optimus asked Jazz,seeing that he seemed to be enjoying the girl's fit of hysteria even more as the minutes ticked by,

'Yea, She's just a-'

'Am Not!'

Holly interrupted, standing slowly to her feet and looking like she was trying to be a puffer fish-but as soon as the two turned to look at her she ducked down behind the chair once again.

'Coward'

Ali muttered, looking more annoyed with Holly's behavior now then she had been moments before. She moved away from where she stood to come to a stand infront of Optimus,crossing her arms over her chest she glared up at him.

'Well, you want to talk to us.so talk'

She demanded, impatient and wanting nothing more then to get this over with.

'I think it would be better for us to talk elsewhere...It seems your friend is...'

'We know,retarded'

'Not what I was going to say'

Ali gave a snort before stalking past Optimus,side glancing to Chris as if telling him to follow -Optimus gave a nod to Jazz.

'We won't be gone too long'

'Roger that!'

Jazz turned to the others and smirked widely. Chris rolled his eyes and began to follow after Ali, shooting Amber a suspecious glance as he walked out of the room-Amber smiled widely and tried to look innocent-which for anyone who knew Amber,knew that the look was anything but that.

Once the two humans and Optimus were gone,Amber turned to face an unsuspecting Curtis,he had his back to her and was half zoned out,as Amber giggled silently. She then lept off the couch and came to a land mostly on Curtis' back-He'd not expected the attack and didn't react quickly enough. The pair tumbled to the ground, coming to a stop at Jazz's left foot.

'Oh-Hi!'

Amber laughed as she rolled off of Curtis and to look up at Jazz-Giggling some more and ignoring the pain filled groan from Curtis.

'Um...Amber...I think you broke me...'

Curtis groaned and tried to get up but failed and decided to just flop back down again.

'I win'

She replied, pushing herself off the ground and dusting herself off-she then looked around for Holly and spotted her. Holly was trying to be sneaky by crawling on her hands and knees along the far wall where Chris had been earlier.

'You're not invisible!'

'Yes I am-I am the Purple!'

'The Purple-what? Avenger?'

Curtis groaned,rolling onto his side and closing his eyes tightly. Jazz watched Holly for a while, he didn't know what had happened in the past sixteen hours but the girl seemed to have made a three-sixty in her complete attitude.

'So...How's our little spazz feeling today?'

He asked with a laugh, the nickname seemed to suit her aptly.

'Well-Despite the fact a giant thingy is talking to me like I may randomly combust-I feel like the sky!'

Holly said with a nod as if what she had just said made complete sense-Amber giggled loudly and hopped back onto the couch,wrapping the blanket around her, she fell silent for a moment. Watching as Holly and Jazz now stared at each other with a strange tensity,as if they were two dogs trying to cause the other to break.

'You're nuts'

'I know'

'Crazy Human'

'Yeppers'

'Freak'

'Why Thank you giant talking thingy'

'Are you even listening to me?'

'Probably'

'Positive?'

'Nope'

'No-wha'

'I don't fall for that one any more'

'One what?'

It was funny,to think that Holly seemed to be having fun despite her boasts of hating all Autobots.

'Amb...Oh hey Jazz'

Blitz-Gear appeared at the doorway and leaned against it with a loud 'huff'.

'Geez,J-man, its been awhile'

'Blitz-Gear! What are you doing here?'

'Not sure really'

'You don't know?'

'Well...There has some stuff to do with Magnus and one of the humans and things blowin' up and Amber,Scout is looking for you'

The way Blitz-Gear spoke in one long string was amusing and Jazz laughed at how he sounded like a less excitable Blurr.Amber nodded and looked to Holly then Curtis and back again, she jumped off the couch and poked Curtis,who thought he was going to be mauled again.

'Hey,Jazz,who's on shift next?'

'Um...Sunstreaker or Sideswipe...I'm not sure...'

'Okay! Curtis! You needs to go and gets us some food'

'What?'

Curtis blinked around and looked very confused,didn't they have some food still?  
'But what about-'

'Go.Get.Food'

Amber smile never faded but her tone was serious as if what she was saying was final and anything said afterwards would be disregarded as white noise.

'Wen-en-dies!'

Holly exclaimed as she turned her attention to Amber at the mension of food,which caused Amber to sigh slightly and glance back.

'Yes Holly...Curtis. go get Wendys'

'But...What...How?...With what money?'

'I don't know...just go'

She waved her arms about,shooing him out of the room and not answering any of his stuttering quesions. As she pushed Curtis out of the room,she glanced back to Holly who now seemed to be in the middle of a starring contest with Jazz-true she seemed to be in one of her normal hyper moods,but was it just because she was over tired or was it that she was starting to feel like her old self again? Amber would have to try and figure this out without causing her friend to grow suspecious,which was easy given Holly's already paranoid personality...Things could be interesting...even amusing if they were to go in the right direction...


	43. Chapter FortyTwo: A Plot Hatched

Chapter 42: A Plot Hatched

The two glared at each other in silence,the air between them was filled with electricity. They both shared the same dark look creased across their metalic faces-it was evident that neither really wanted to be around the other under the current circumstances.

'Where is she?'

'Who?'

'You know who'

There was a long pause,the pair had about the same feeling towards the other and weren't afraid to reveal this to the other.

'No,I really don't. Why don't you specify whom it is that someone locked away in a dark room such as I, are sappoused to know the where abouts of?'

The light was irratating his senses but he wasn't going to give the other any reason to annoy him further,he already was bored with the conversation and wished to be left alone in peace.

'You know what Hammershot,you really do need to be a little more grateful towards those who spared your life'

'Grateful!? For being locked away? Treated like filth? To face an unknown fate? What is there to be grateful towards?'

'That you're alie'

'If you can call THIS living'

Hammershot growled as he gave a small gesture to the room he was in-It wasn't small but neither was it spacious,only slightly better then what he imagined a human holding cell would be like. Scout sighed, this conversation was getting him nowhere and he didn't expect to get the answers he was looking for.

'You are a Decepticon now,Optimus isn't just going to let you walk around freely'

'Do I look like I expected such?'

Scout opened his mouth to say something but decided against it with a huff,he turned his head away from the slumped over Decepticon.

'You still have a chance'

'A chance to what?'

Scout pulled an annoyed look as he glanced back to Hammershot,seeming more annoyed that he hadn't immediatly caught onto what he had ment.

'Optimus'

'oh?'

'He'll take you back,redeem you even if you really wanted to and asked him-'

'I'm still a traitor-'

'Yes but you know him better then I...you know what I say is true'

Hammershot growled at this statement,he didn't like that idea much nor did he like the fact that someone else had pointed it out. It was at this point that he nomore wanted Scout there then he had earlier-With an almost resentful look he decided that he'd rather be alone. This was not the company he wanted-he didn't think that the company he DID want was even in the vacinity. Knowing full well that it was the one in questions fault that Scout was even there,bothering his quiet contemplation time,to start.

'Amber's not here-but try looking for someone who would know'

Hammershot said flatly-it was evident now that he was done talking to Scout.

'If you see her-'

'Yea'

Scout starred at the Hummer for a few moments before turning to step out of the room.

'Despite all that you've done...You've not lost all your friends here'

With that the door slid shut and allowed the statement to rest on Hammershot's mind. Scout huffed again,scanning the small area where a guard normally sat-it was currently empty,which on its own was an oddity. Shouldn't someone be there? He debated about sticking around but then shook his head-He was confident that Hammershot wouldn't be causing any trouble. Growling at how impossible his former comrade could be,Scout slowly left the holding bay,though he had to wonder...just how much of Hammershow was truly a Decepticon?

'But I'm tired!'

Holly whined as she flopped onto the couch,looking ready to fall asleep once again.

'That's what you get for sleeping all day'

'Not my fault!'

'Is to!'

Amber hopped onto the armrest of the couch,teetering on it like she may fall atop of her friend like the first time.

'Nuh-uh'

'Yah-ha'

'Sleeep'

'Aw, C'mon!'

Amber wanted to take advantage of this oppertunity and relative alone time to talk to Holly but if she was that insistant on going back to sleep, then Amber wouldn't push the matter and let her sleep.

'Lets talk'

''Bout what?'

Holly asked with a large yawn,she wanted to explore this base but was achey and sore all over,not to mension all the energy she had used up earlier while amusing Jazz,it had really worn her out and though she felt better then before...she still needed rest and food and alone time.

'Stuuf!'

'Uh..Purple?'

'Maybe'

Amber giggled and teetered some more, flailing one arm as she almost fell foreward but managed to keep herself balanced at the last minute. Sighing,Holly sat up and tilted her head before trying to stifle another yawn and failed.

'Okay...I...am ...awake?'

Amber smirked though it revealed none of what she was thinking. Holly leaned back against a pillow and looked to the ceiling,she sighed deeply before deciding to start the conversation off.

'You know, its funny. I always thought I would know what I would do if anything out of this world ever happened to us. Not that I ever,EVER, expected it to-Especially giant robots!'

'No kidding'

'But once it did...I don't know. You know?'

'maybe'

Holly pulled a face,frusterated that she couldn't think of the words to go with what she was trying to say.

'Its like having a child-your priorities get jumbled around.'

'Nice Alligie-You just need time to adjust-everyone needs to get off your case,and let you decide things on your own'

Looking down,Holly gave the impression of a child who had recently been scolded by a parent.

'I feel bad for what I've done, for getting you all involved in this stupid war. I didn't mean to and I'm honestly scared. I don't want to lose any more people I care about'

'Then stop doing things that cause us to put ourselves in positions of being hurt'

'I can't'

'Why not?'

'Because...I...'

Amber rolled back and stood to her feet. She wasn't glaring a Holly but neither did she have a pleasant look on her face.

'Why did you agree to help the Decepticons?'

'Because...you already know that answer'

'No, I don't'

'Its because, for the first time in my life I feel like I'm useful-even if I will die'

'And?'

Amber smirked again as Holly glanced to her for a few moments looking scared,and it was obvious that she was trying to think of what her friend had expected to hear.

'And what?'

'The Decepticons hate humans...why stay with them?'

'I..Because...because...You know why"

'Do I?'

'You do'

Holly's face was slightly pink but Amber decided to move on.

'So, Now what? What do you plan on doing?'

'I don't know'

'Well...If you stay here, the Autobots will want the code. If you go back to the Decepticons,they'll take the code. Do you want to stay here,with your friends? Or go back to the Decepticons where you'll be alone?'

Amber turned and glanced to the doorway as she heard Curtis return with an armful of bags-he wasn't pleased with being a go-to boy for his friends but he seemed to try to keep his thoughts from showing on his face as he saw the two looking at him. Amber sighed a little,she would have liked to continue this conversation but decided that she could wait for a better time,where there won't be as many oppertunites of being walked in on. She walked past him and began to head out of the room,much to Curtis' surprise, he had assumed that she would stick around some more.

'I'll be back in a while,Curtis'

'Yaya-go on then'

Amber gave a nod and waved to Holly who ignored her departing friend and focused on the smell of good food-a loud growl eminated from her empty stomach.

'FOOD!!"

She lept off the couch and nearly attacked Curtis-it wasn't an unusueal sight to behold but was always amusing nonetheless.

'Whoa...down girl..'

'Fooooooooooooooodddd!'

Curtis managed to dodge Holly's second attempt of an attack on him,while keeping the food balanced in his arms.

Again the door slid open, and again the small holding room was infultrated by the annoying light of the bay outside. Hammershot raised an arm to block the light and to try and see who had come to intrude on his thoughts this time.

'Two visitors in one day...My popularity must be sky-rocketing'

He commented darkly-his face fell as he saw Amber step into the room,behind her the bay looked to be completely empty. It was curious,he had to wonder if Scout had run into her and if maybe this was some sort of stupid test to see if he would try to take the oppertunity to escape.Then again maybe the human was just there on her own? But then if she was,what did she want? He really wasn't in the mood for any sort of conversation with her, she didn't give him anything in the way of answers or explinations and seemed to know things that seemed odd. Were the Autobots starting to slip in their time on Earth? Perhaps an attack on the base was coming,and it would probably end badly if they had let their security slip this badly.

'Hammershot. Tell me-If I offered you a chance at freedom,would you try to return to the Decepticons?'

'What? What do you ca-'

'Answer the question'

'I...No'

'Why?'

'Because-'

'Because why?'

'I'd go find Holly first'

Amber took several steps back, so that she was now bathed in the light of the bay outside.

'You'd betray the Decepticons to find a human who may already be with them'

'But you said-'

'I don't care,answer'

'Yes! Yes I would'

'Why?'

'What?'

'Why?'

'Do you-'

'Why?'

'I'm not-'

'Tell me what I already know your saying. Tell me why a giant robot is risking his own life for someone who is not of his species-who thinks that he's dead-and who may hate him for risking his own life to go after her'

There was a long pointedly silent pause between the two-Hammershot had no idea why this human had come to him demanding to know these answers without any explination as to why she wanted to know and as far as he knew it wouldn't even help him for her to know. Finally he growled,maybe if he told her she would finally leave him alone-shifting so that she could see the dark look on his face he replied.

'Because I care about her. Happy now?'

Amber didn't move,nor speak,she looked lke she had been frozen in plce. Hammershot didn't understand, had she died? He would be lying if he said that he was sorry if she had-but Amber was currently his only connection to Holly.

'Yes! Now come on!'

'What?'

'I'm taking you to a safe place, now c'mon'

'But...how?'

'Do you want to see Holly or not?'

Amber knew the time frame she had to remove Hammershot undected from the base was drawing to a close. How long could Sunstreaker and Sideswipe hold everyone off with demostrating their 'Jet Judo' on Prowl? Not long and even Blitz-Gear would be hard pressed to keep the security cameras pointed in the other direction for much longer. Finally Hammershot stood to his feet and stepped out of the cell, he'd been in. He was genuinely surprised to see that Freeway was there,that she had been lurking out of sight-a large grin was plastered across her face as she waved happily at him. He turned his gaze down to Amber,what was going on here?

'How many are involved in this?'

'Enough'

Came Amber's reply as she led Hammershot out of the small bay.

'What about my weapons?'

'Don't worry about them'

'Wha...Amber...just how long have you been planning this?'

'I haven't'

She replied simply as they dashed up the stairs leading to the main level of the base-then down a corridor,round another and soon found themselves making their way to the same little known entrance that Blitz-Gear had used to enter the base unnoticed.

'When will...'

'Shut up or we WILL get caught'

Amber snapped as they sprinted down the last hall, Hammershot couldn't help but feel nervous,why hadn't they run into anyone? Surely someone should be there to stop this from happening? Just what was going on?

Finally outside,the cool dark air hit them,Was this really happening? Was Hammershot really free?

'Transform'

'Huh?'

'Grah-You're slow'

'Hey!'

'Transform,so they don't see you. Then I can tell you how to get where we're going'

'...fine...'

He didn't like the idea of having Amber travelling with him but what choice did he really have? Return to that stupid cell and wait for Optimus to come by? Try to find Holly on his own and more then likely find the Decepticons instead. Transforming he held a door open and barely waited for Amber to get in before he sped off down the mountain,staying away from the path that the Autobots used. Able to travel off road at a decent pace, he let his thoughts drift away and work on getting away from the base before they were discovered missing. Amber was silent as well, the second half of this plan would be probably more difficult to pull off...or at the very least...louder...


	44. Chapter FortyThree: Know nothing,know ev

Chapter 43: Know nothing,Know everything

Chris,Ali and Optimus turned around a corner leading to the rec-room but all three came to a complete stop when they saw that their way was blocked by a very strange scene. What was going on? It was like they had just walked in on a party that they weren't invited to. Sunstreaker was being pushed off Prowl while Sideswipe sat on the floor laughing-the three who had just arrived remained undected by those in front of them. Curtis and Holly were there too,standing closer to the new comers but with their backs to them-Holly was giggling hysterically while Curtis wa making quiet comments, that didn't help her case.

'What's gotten into-nevermind-what do you think your doing?'

'Aw, C'mon Prowl. You can't ay that it wasn't fun!'

'It wasn't'

'Liar!'

'Oh yes-Because I really enjoy being ambushed by the likes of you'

'but Prowl...'

'No and do I even LOOK like a jet to you?'

'...Yes..."

Sideswipe replied with another row of laughter at the dark look he had gotten from the Tactician.

Slowly and silently,Chris approached the oblivious Holly-she wasn't even aware of his presence as he stood several feet behind her, close enough to touch her shoulder if he wanted to.

'What's going on?'

He asked dryly, moments before his eardrums were shattered by the high-pitched scream of surprise from Holly.

'Ouch'

Ali grumbled a she too now stepped foreward,looking to be already in a bad mood-Holly spun around once and as she saw the flash of red hair coming towards her, she lept behind Curtis. Spinning him around and using him as a meatshield.

'She's gonna kill me!'

'Like I want to die...thanks...'

Curtis commented darkly neither looking impressed with his new position as Holly's sacrifice to Ali. Ali,stoppe in mid-walk and just began to cackle-it was even better then if she had hit Holly. Being able to inflict such terror in a person was her goal,it would seem odd as she was shorter then the others but the humans knew full well that she was alot more scary then from what she'd shown the robots thus far. Optimus shook his head,he had no idea why this had happened between the brothers and Prowl, but he pretty much knew why it had happened.

'Prowl, did you let your guard down?'

'If its not that blasted Jazz,its these two,there's a serious lack of...'

'You've got to live a little,Prowl! Not everything is so serious'

Sunstreaker chuckled as he was Prowl finally managed to detach the yellow Lamboghini from him.

'Do I have to remind you,again, that we're in a-'

Prowl stopped as he saw Sideswipe mocking him and flapping one of his hands in a gesture saying that Prowl talked too much. A long growl eminated from the tacticians throat, he was growing more and more irratated by the pair.

'Easy,Prowl. I don't think Ratchet would be too pleased if we sent these two over to his bay'

Prowl glanced to their leader,unimpressed that he had found the situation amusing as well,though he wouldn't allow that to show on his face.

'I don't care-What kind of example are we setting when I'll be walking along minding my own business and for no better reason then pure boredum get ambushed by tweedle dee and tweedle dum here'

'hey! We are no tweedle anything!'

Sunstreaker piped in with a look of insult on his face.Optimus sighed and glanced to the brothers,who were now on their feet and looking rather resentful that their fun had to come to an end so soon.

'Don't blame us,The humans wanted a demostration!'

'That's real mature,Sideswipe,blame the humans'

Prowl sighed, he just wanted to get away from all of them now, but wouldn't excuse himself until Optimus had.

'But...'

'Actually...'

Curtis cut in,looking hesitant as the attention was brought upon him-and doing his best to ignore Holly who squeek and tried to hide by diving under his shirt.

'We DID kind of...ak...but there were no jets...are none...something like that'

'yes there is. What about Crusher?'

Prowl suggested, though doubted that the turn out would have had been much better had they ambushed Crusher instead of him. She was a moody one and that human who followed her wasn't any better.

'Stupid Crusher'

Holly growled,pulling herself back out from under Curtis' shirt, she saw the dark glare from Ali,though it wasn't much different from her normal glare an those who didn't know better wouldn't have suspected anything.

'Besides that, Crusher's no fun'

Sideswipe added,giving the impression that he agreed with Holly in the jet being stupid.

'That maybe but she is part of the team now and I expect you both to treat her as such. But we should let the humans rest,it is getting late and I'm sure they'd like to spend some time together after all of this'

'Who's next on shift?'

Prowl asked now finding himself to be absentminded about the current situation, he'd already done his shift and hoped that he wouldn't be dragged into another one.

'Mine'

Ironhide announced as he rounded the corner,his face dropped as he saw the brothers and each gave a quick glance to each other in a nervous fashion.

'Oh yea...Jazz was sappoused to show us that...that thing'

Sideswipe chuckled,turning to leave and grabbing his brother by the arm as he went.

'What...oh...that'

'Yea...that'

'okay,see you all later'

The pair dashed away before Ironhide could remember that he was mad at them-but it probably was for the best. Optimus looked down to the humans and gave a small chuckle-at least they seemed relaxed.

"I'll return in the morning, I woul like to talk to you,Holly...'

At being mensioned by name,Holly's attention snapped to the speaking giant-she looked like she might growl a comment back but remained silent. Had Ali and Chris said somethng and she was sappoused to confirm it? Was she going to get them all in trouble without really knowing it? Maybe he just wanted to know...know why a human would side with the Decepticons? These and many more thoughts raced through her mind as she stood there in silence.

'Its alright Prime, I've got it from here.'

'Thank you Ironhide'

Optimus turned back the way he had come with the humans, he had to think of a way to see how far Holly would trust,if at all-what she knew was dangerous,not only to them but for her own safety-they needed that code,before anything else went wrong.

Prowl gave a small goodnight as he too left the hall, now leaving just Ironhide and the humans to sort themselves out. Slowly,the group walked back towards the rec-room-Chris walked close to Holly, he knew that his survival depended on her not doing something...stupid...

'Where's Amber?'

He hissed in her ear,not that he cared were she was...but what she might be up to.

They made it past Rayleigh without being stopped or attacked, this was a good sign,but neither had spoken since they broke out of the Autobot base. Amber glanced out the darkened windows,somewhere out there was her thoughts-she didn't seem to look like she was even breathing, it was eerie how still she could become.

'Amber...'

Hammershot spoke, they were nearing the pass leading to the Decepticon base, where exactly were they going? If they were caught, the likelyhood of Amber living would be slim-even slimmer once they learned that she was VERY difficult to deal with.

'AMBER!'

He growled again,a little more urgent this time-Amber stirred slightly,though still not really paying attention.

'What?'

'Which way?'

'Turn right'

'Then where'

Amber sighed, seeming to be irritated by the Hummer's questions.

'I'll tell you whre to turn as we come up to the streets'

Hammershot didn't like the answer he had been given but was less in a mood to argue over i-If he wanted to be united with Holly once again,he would jut have to put up with Amber a little longer...

Amber leaned foreward and turned a dial,music began to fill the cab as one of Holly's cd' began to automatically play.

'The laaaast that she ever saw him...''

Moonlight Shadow,not exactly the right song to fit the mood but Amber was too tired to try and find a song that would. She then leaned against the door window and looked more like she were about to fall asleep then in deep thought. Hammershot found his thoughts were pondering over why the human was doing this,he figured that she didn't like him much,if at all-he couldn't blame her though, he had tried to kill Scout the first time they ever revealed themselves. But then, why was Amber doing this? He would think that someone in her position would be doing the complete opposite,to take advantage of them...oh well, it was something he planned to ask her once they reached...wherever it was they were going.

After at least another half an hour of driving up and down side streets in a zig-zag pattern,Hammershot began to slow his pace. Moments later he came to a complete stop, it had taken him a few moments to realize where they were heading-no thanks to the girl's strange directions. Amber sat straight and looked suddenly very alert,looking around for any reason for them to have stopped-they weren't at their destination yet...they why had they stopped?

'What's wrong?'

She asked, thinking that perhaps they had been met with a road block or even a worse situation-found out by one of the other robots.

'You'

'What!?'

Amber snapped darkly, she didn't know what he ment but for a moment wondered if he planned on leaving her at the side of the road or demanding to know where Holly was-either way she wouldn't be surprised. However, she just wanted to keep going, this was killing time that she would need to return back to the base and act as if she never left.

'We can't go this way'

'Why? Its the only way to get out there'

'It goes right past the airport'

'So?'

'So-Don't you know who currently has control of the airport?'

'No'

"Starscream'

Hammershot growled,knowing that running into the annoying seeker would be the worst thing they could possibly want.

'Oh.'

Amber nodded her head,glancing around like someone had just called her name,she then placed a hand on the back of her head and looked confused.

'Who's that?'

'Ke...Who's That!? Don't you know anything!?'

'Nope'

'No...Then how have you managed to pull all of this off without knowing anything?'

'With Skill'

Amber tilted her head and giggled a little, she really looked clueless but somehow Hammershot figured that she wasn't as clueless as she appeared-then perhaps she was just really good with working with what she was given.

'C'mon, just turn off your headlights-maybe they won't notice us in the dark'

'uh..Riiiiight'

Amber shook her head now and looked annoyed-she crossed her arms over her chest and let out a small but threatening growl of irritation.

'Well...If you DON'T want me to take you there-I sappouse I can continue to let Holly think That your dead'

'Fine! We'll drive in the dark'

Hammershot slowly started off again with all his headlights and others turned off; Starscream wasn't the only Decepticon at the airport-Bonecrusher and Brawl were there as well. He also wouldn't be surprised if Barricade was lurking around there as well.

'For someone who doesn't know anything,you sure take alot of risks'

'Eh'

Amber shrugged, the truth was that she had no idea if they were going to get away with this or not-the road went right past the airport.

Kenny slowly came to, the pain in his body was still seering through him but something had stirred him from the depths of his conciousness. Trying to focuse on what it could be,Kenny rolled onto his back and blinked a couple of times. Wherever he was, it was dark-cold and silent-perhaps he'd died and this a sort of punishment.

'The human wakes'

Came a strange voice, furrowing his brows,Kenny hesitantly pushed himsef up. Groaning as the blood rushed to his head,he frowned before quickly twisting around and being sick on the floor beside him.

'Where am I?'

'That doesn't matter Human'

The high-pitched voice drove deep into Kenny's mind, giving him a splitting headache.

'What does-is how much you value your life'

'Huh?'

Kenny looked up as the ground began to shake, his eyes instantly falling upon a very large form approaching him.

'Not more robots'

He groaned but felt sick again as he realized that this robot was far larger then the others he had previously encountered.

'If you tell us what we want-you might get to leave with your life'

'Great.'

Kenny closed his fist around a small rock that laid in the dirt beside him-watching as the giant robot stepped into a small trickle of light. It was a red and white robot,with what appeared to be wings on its back, engines on its shoulders and the cockpit of a plane for its main front piece.Did it transform into some sort of jet? Kenny looked around some more-he was in a hanger-but didn't that mean they were at the airport? If there were robot hiding at the airport, then where else where they hiding?

'Human...'

Kenny's attention returne to the speaking robot-it had come to a stop now, looming over him and frowning deeply.

'What!?'

'Where is the girl,Holly,Hiding?'


	45. Chapter FortyFour: Not worth it

Chapter 44: Not worth it

It felt good to be able to sleep in for a change-Devon had been informed by his dad the previous night that the whole autobody shop would be closed for a few days...something to do with a broken water main flooding one of the garages and doing serious damage to all the equipment there. Devon was lucky, his famil didn't even bother him about the strange truck in their garage-they probably just assumed that it was one of his friends. As he rolled onto his stomach,Devon was vaguely aware of the noise downstairs-his family was going camping for the last time this season-so naturally Devon tuned them out. He wasn't going...he never did. With a loud yawn, he raised his head off of the pillow for a brief moment as his mind caused him to feel a little bad for leaving Grimlock alone for so long, but then he dropped his head back to the pillow and drifted back to the blissful realm of unconciousness.

Several hours later,Devon was still trying to wake himself up as he stumbled around the kitchen preparing a simple breakfast.Cereal. He grumbled as he realized that his family had left him with barely any food-he'd have to go shopping if he wanted to survive the next couple of days.

'Thanks family'

He muttered,turning one eye to see if the computer had finished loading-nope-sighing,Devon wadded towards the desk anyways in hopes that it would hurry up and give him something to pass the time with. Stopping, he didn't move for a few moments as he THOUGHT that he'd seen movement in his backward. Slowly, he placed his bowl on the kitchen table and inched towards the padio door-hopefully no one was out there and it was just his tired mind playing tricks on him.

'MOW!"

Came the loud exclimation from his cat as she zipped past like her tail was on fire.

'Terra...'

He growled, it wasn't unuseual for the cat to spaz out as it had just done but it had caused Devon to jump a little. Watching it disappear down the stairs and around a corner, Devon shook his head as he reached the glass window.

'Stupid cat'

He muttered as he turned to look out the window, maybe there was a moose out there or a fox. At first he thought his eyes were about to explode as all he saw was metalic silver that wasn't all that reflective-Moving back and blinking a few times, Devon realized what he was looking at. The head dropped down so that the eye could look at the human inside the house.

'Me Grimlock found fleshie Devbot!'

The dino declared as if the world around them didn't matter. He sounded proud of himself and didn't see the dark look that crossed Devon's face. Opening the padio,Devon stepped out, trying his best to assest the situation-Why had Grimlock shown up at his house? And in the middle of the afternoon? Had something bad happened? No matter, if something hadn't...It was about to.

'Grimlock-what are you doing here?'

'Me, not see Devbot for many days, me no able to count on hands.'

'But I'm fine'

'you no look fine-why Devbot no come see Grimlock?'

'Listen,Grimlock-something's come up, a family thing. I'll explain later, but first...'

'What that funny smell?'

'Uh...What smell?'

Devon glanced to the traintracks that laid not too far from his backyard, perhaps there was some Decepticon train-former there? Or an Autobot? He maybe hadn't seen them as he didn't really didn't spend much time with the Autobots.

'It smell like Deceptitrash'

'Ew...'

Grimlock began to sniff the air,like an over grown dog-he moved towards the front of the house, nose raised a little as he tried to lock onto the location of the scent.

'Grimlock! Stop!'

There was a long pause of silence as Grimlock lowered his snout level with the top of the garage. He sniffed several times, Devon was hoping that all the oil and autobody smells would cover up Beatdown's presence-He didn't think that it would though. And since when did the two sides have different smells? well...he assumed that it would make some sort of sense, though it was odd still. And he probably didn't noticed it as his smell wasn't as hightened as the robots nor did he run around sniffing everyone he met.

'Grrrr'

This was bad, Devon knew that a fight was probably about to break out-but what could he do to stop it?

'Grim-'

The air was shattered by the sound of broken plastic and weak metal over a screaming engine and burning rubber-breaking out of the garage in reverse came the blue Tundra. Skimming the bottom of Grimlock's jaw, the truck tipped over backwards in a backflip,Transforming in mid-flip. Beatdown came to a stop in the yard across from Devon's house-both of his cannons aimed at Grimlock as he readied himself for a battle.

'Grimlock Smash Deceptimeat!'

The dinobot swung around to face Beatdown and nearly knocked Devon off his feet with his tail. Beatdown didn't move for a few seconds, though it was apparent that he was in no mode to tolerate anyone.

'I knew this was a mistake'

He growled to himself, turning his gaze upon the human for a moment and appeared to have been talking to him-had he known the stupid dinobot was around the area he would never of agreed to staying there. He wasn't going to stay any longer, he'd find his own place to hide, but he wasn't either in the mood to fight this beast one on one.

'Slaggit'

He hissed as Grimlock began to charge at him, instantly Beatdown sent several rounds at the dino-taking him by surprise but it quickly retaliated by trying to melt him-Grimlock blew fire at the annoying Decepticon, though his aim was off. Giving Beatdown a chance to roll out of the way-though the house that had sat behind him was set ablaze by the misaimed flames.

'STOP!'

Devon yelled, this was madness but he was ignored by both Grimlock and Beatdown. The best he could do was find cover or try to make it to the ship-but that would be risky with the way things were going.

Beatdown sent several more blasts at the dino, aiming for his knees and neck-trying to do enough damage to slow him down and give him the oppertunity to flee. However, the dinobot wasn't going down-Beatdown glanced around, this was not going as planned. He growled and aimed one of his cannons at a house neighbouring Devon's-maybe he could cause enough distruction and fire that the dino would stall. Grimlock roared in frusteration at not being able to crush the Decepticon-

'Stop running away, I want to smash you'

'Like that's going to make me stop'

Came Beatdown's reply as he hit the house with several blasts-it took a few more rounds then he thought. The garage went first,exploding outward, unfortunatly it jumped to Devon's house-which was also set ablaze. Then something errupted and Grimlock was blasted in the face by the flames and depris. Beatdown spun and transformed, he was getting the hell out of there! He knew that it wouldn't be long before the destruction was noticed. He turned down the nearest street and looked for cover, he was at least out of sight-for now. Grimlock roared again as he shook his head a frew times, the Decepticon was gone and that frusterated him more.

'Grimlock want to crush stinky blue trash'

He declared stomping his feet and looking like he were a child having a temper tantrum. After a few minutes of this he stopped and looked around, just remembering something.

'Where Devbot?'

Grimlock looked around the rubble, some of the fires had burned out from the gust caused by his stomping about. Though the section of the street looked as if a hurricane had hit it.

'You hiding Devbot'

Lifting some debris with his snout,Grimlock hoped to find the human he'd forgotten all about while dealing with the Decepticon.

'Hey-Godzilla!'

Came a strange man's voice-slowly Grimlock turned to glance to the human, apparently this scared the human as he raised his shot up that he was holding in his hands.

'S...stay...B...back...'

The man no longer looked so sure of what he was doing-Grimlock straightened up and began to turn towards the stranger with a snarl.

Blam! Blamblamblam

The man sent several rounds in the direction of the beast but with the way he was shaking, would have been lucky to have even hit it at all. Grimlock glanced to his legs then to the human and let out a long growl,

'Shiiiiit!'

The man dropped his gun and bolted down the street,running the way he had come from-a fowl order filled the air in the man's wake-causing Grimlock to snort in disgust. He returned to shifting through the debris in an attempt to find his friend.

Liane and Crusher stood a good distance away from the Autobot base, they'd been outside for several hours now. They had seen Freeway leave alone but return with Amber-who must have had snuck out before the pair had left the base. But neither cared, they had found the same entrance Blitz-Gear used and it was perfect for sneaking in a couple of Decepticon's without detection. But locating what they were after would be annoying and only two living people knew where it was. Liane liked the idea of taking the code by force, but hated who had it-if only there was a more simple way to go about this...cut out the middle man, that being Holly-to take what she knew from her brain. Was it even possible? She would have to look into it. It probably was but it would probably kill the girl, oh well, she was dispensable after all and Megatron was going to kill her anyways. Lian'e thoughts were broken by the sound of loud static, she furrowed her brows,the noise was annoying and gave her a headache.

'Soundwave, can you hear me"

Crusher asked as clearly as possible-there was some more loud static. Interference from the base,no doubt-how annoying. Then the familiar monotone voice broke through the air, distorted but they knew that their connection was strong enough to relay the information they had.

'Affirmative-what is it?'

'I have some good news'

Crusher began with a widening grin, she would prove herself more compatent then most others following Megatron.

'Go on'

'Gladly-Not only have I found a flaw in the Autobot security but-I also know where the human AND Hammershot are hiding'

There was a pause, someone was speaking but their voice was distorted and sounded far off, probably some distance away from Soundwave.

'Your information has been recorded-remain hidden until we contact you'

A loud 'pop' sounded the end of the transmission,but both Crusher and Liane felt much lighter then they had in awhile. All they had to do was wait...and all this would come crumbling down-the Autobot's would fall and the Decepticons will stand supreme over all, it was a good time to be alive...


	46. Chapter FortyFive: A conveniant Distract

Chapter 45: A convenient Distraction

Amber and Freeway had managed to slip back into the base without detection and before the sun had even risen above the tops of the surrounding trees along the mountain line,so far everything seemed to be going in their favor.

Due to Holly's deep sleeping, Optimus hadn't managed to talk to her when he'd wanted to and now he was off doing other important tasks. Ali was the second to wake, though it looked as if neither Chris or Amber had slept that night. Muttering darkly, she grabbed left over food and wandered away, not really even caring that she was being followed by Blitz-Gear. Much to Bumblebee's dismay, he knew that he couldn't stop the two and watch the other humans properly at the same time. It wasn't so much the fact that he would get into alot of trouble if anything happened to the humans under his watch that worried him, as much as what Scout would do to him if anything happened to Amber while in his care...

A few hours later, Holly had woken up and with a good night's sleep was in a rather overly hyper mood given their situation and the fact she was surrounded by who she'd call 'the enemy'. Unfortunatly for Chris, Amber was also hyper and the two fed off of each other to only make his constant headache into a full blown migrane.

'Pew pew!'

Holly declared as she threw herself over the couch, pretending to shoot Curtis with finger guns-only to land on her side and send her into another round of giggling as she ignored the pain. Quickly she rolled out of Chris' reach before he could step on her and stop her from running around like a sugar high five year old child.

'Okay...who fed Holly sugar?'

Curtis asked with a chuckle, deciding to sit next to Chris on the couch and hoping that it would keep him safe from being attacked by the hyper girl.

'Pew Pew!'

Holly ran around the room now shouting at random things for doing nothing more then being inanimate. Amber simply shook her head, sticking out of the corner of her mouth was a honeystick-clover flavor,which Chris already knew spelt his doom if her attention were to befall him for too long. He was in no mood to put up with such behavior but he forced himself through it, he needed to keep Holly insight at all times, she was his key to getting out of this alive,much to his displeasure.

'I have toys!'

Amber declared, pulling out several toy models-Holly gave a yip of joy and made a B-line straight towards the toys. Curtis looked slightly puzzled and should have known better then to ask what was on his mind.

'Amber, why do you have toys in your bag?'

'Because she's Amber'

Chris replied with a groan and a roll of his eyes, he had a feeling that he knew what was coming next and it was a bad thing.

'I have alot of little cousins'

Amber answered ignoring Chris as she pulled a blue sports car from the pile-Holly grabbed a red and black jet and giggled at it.

'I'm a Jet. Haha! I'm a Seeker!'

She then ran around with the toy infront of her making mock jet sounds and pretending that it was flying through the air.

'Barrel Roll-Weeeh!'

Amber smirked, not glancing at the guys, she began to make car sounds and raced towards the couch.

'Voom Voom!'

'Pew Pew! I'm shooting you,Amber!'

'Nuh-uh, Gotta catch me first!'

'You're on!'

'Kill me now'

Chris growled and slumped against the couch-Curtis seemed amused as he watched the two run around the room, they were crazy but it was better then nothing and it was the most fun he'd had in about a week.

'Pew Pew! I've got my target locked'

Holly spoke, trying to sound like an offical fighter pilot-Amber just giggled some more,pushed away from the wall she was using as a race track, she flew threw the air straight for the couch. Chris knew what was coming, scrambling to his feet, he managed to avoid being run into by Amber. She fell over the end of the couch and somersaulted onto the floor by Curtis' feet.

'Stunt roll-for the win! Feet!'

She then tried to grab Chris' feet but again he manged to move out of range of her. He honestly didn't know how much more of this childishness he'd be able to take-he wished Ali would return so that he could have some sense of normality around him again. She'd also be able to offer him some interlecteral conversation, and an excape from this...or she'd force those two to stop, though...if she was in one of her other moods...Chris hoped that was not the case.

'Pew Pew! I am the champion!'

Holly ran past declaring shrilling and damaging the guys ear drums as she passed them.

'How are the humans doing?'

'I'm not sure,Optimus, I think they're alright but they seem to be going stir crazy'

The sudden appearance of Optimus stepping into the room followed by Bumblebee was all they needed.

'Octipus!'

Holly declared loudly, running straight towards him with the jet ahead of her-He looked down at the approaching human with uncertanity. Chris just burried his face in the palm of his hand-he really regretted ever becoming Holly's friend at the moment, at least he'd be home enjoying a normal day.

'Pew pew! I shot you Optimus!'

'Uh..."

He looked himself over as if checking for any signs of damage, as he hadn't felt anything but wasn't entirely sure if the girl hadn't attacked him with something or not.

'Kah-Blewie! Blam Boom Boom Crash Bang! You Asploded!'

Holly giggled as she around around his legs,ignoring all logic and reason as she did-seeming to forget the fact that she was running around and between a giant robots legs who could step on her by accident.Optimus stared at her,wondering if perhaps there was something more seriously wrong with her then he first assumed, he was about to suggest that she go be examined when Bumblebee cut him off.

'See? Its like they've convertted to younglings or something'

'Pew pew! Kaboom! I blew you up too Yellow guy! whoo!'

'I see..A...'

Optimus was startled as he saw Amber leap past him and tackle Holly to the ground-they both rolled out into the hall like they were in a fight. Chris and Curtis both moved quickly at the girls, they came to a stop at the doorway to see Amber and Holly both pushing and pulling at each other's arms and shirts.

'To think...once upon a time...I thought they were normal'

Curtis commented with a sigh and a shrug.

'There is no sense of normality where those two are concerned'

Replied Chris dryly, he wasn't sure if he was glad or more concerned that Optimus was there-it ment one of two things and neither of which Chris seemed to like.

'Maybe its some sort of human disease'

Bumblebee pondered aloud, clearly making fun of the girls but neither noticed. Both lost in their determinship to win the demented game of tug-o-war.

'Yes, Amberisium'

Chris cracked a dark smirk,though knew that Holly could be just as bad on her own-maybe even worse if the setting was right. Before anything else could be said Jazz came running down the hall, looking upset about something.

'Jazz,what's the matter?'

'We've got a situation,Prime, and it involves Grimlock.'

Upon hearing the dino's name, Amber stopped fooling around, she looked up at the robots then to Chris and down to Holly-She wanted to know what was going on but this may have been the oppertunity she was hoping for.

'What do you mean?'

'I don't know the full details as to what happened but we just got word that he's been rampaging around Rayleigh-Right about where the human Devon lives-its a total mess,the destruction he's managed to do...'

Chris' attention quickly narrowed in on the robots at the mension of Devon's place, though he wasn't worried about Devon or whoever this Grimlock was,no,his concern was elsewhere. Everyone's attention was on Jazz, who was constantly looking behind him as if expecting something to be there. It was now or never-Amber grabbed Holly in a way that forced her onto her feet-Holly was about to yelp in both shock and pain when suddenly Amber clamped her hand tightly down on her mouth-she glared at Holly and dragged her down another hall, watching the others the whole time while expecting one of them to catch her leaving with her captive.

'Optimus, we have another problem'

This time Ironhide dashed towards the Autobot leader, not even noticing the humans lurking in the other hall. Amber mouthed the word 'run' before releasing Holly and taking off down the passage-Holly did as she was told, but was very confused,what was Amber doing? Where were they going? And what had happened to Devon-who or what was a Grimlock? She wanted all these questions answered now.

'Where are we going?'

Holly called between breaths, she knew it wouldn't be long before they were noticed missing and those looking for them would be mighty angery.

'You want outta here, right'

'Yea'

'Then shut up and follow me'

Amber growled,she dashed around a corner and yelped-Holly ran into the back of her, but there was something ahead of them that had given Amber the reason to call out. Standing in their path was Blurr, and he looked confused as to what the two where doing, luckily he seemed unaware of what was going on with the others.

'whereareyougoingwhatareyoudoingwheresOptimuswhatwhatwhat'

Holly stared up at the robot and slowly blinked once, looking lost and obviously unable to completely keep up to what he'd just said to them, only managing to pick out parts of it.

'We'replayingtagbutyoubettergotoOptimus,Ithinkthere'ssomethinggoingonandhe'sprobablygoingtosendyoualloutbutwedon'twanttogetinthewaysowe'retryingtostayonamorequietsideofthebase.'

Amber replied in one long string,sounding almost like she was mocking Blurr.He didn't look like he entirely believed a thing that she'd just said-this was no good, they were so close to freedom but now...

'Blitz-Gear! Blitz-Gear's a traitor! That's why he brought Ali here, she's a spy! And that's what Optimus is trying to find out.'

'WHAT?'

Holly exclaimed,as she stared at the back of her friend's head,now ignoring the robot infront of them.

'WhatwhatwhatI'vegottotellOptimusaboutthisthisthisitsbadohnonono"

Finally,Blurr took off,leaving Amber and Holly behind, they began to run down the hall once more-Holly still stared intently at the back of her friend's head. Why had she said that? What did she know? How did she know that Ali had even been a Decepticon? As far as she knew it had never been stated,Ali never said so in person to anyone. And to mension a traitor? A spy? Did Amber know who the real traitor and spy was? If so, why protect her? All these thoughts raced through her mind as they ran-she only realized that they had made it outside when she felt the cool air hit her face and skin. Freeway was waiting there, in her vehicle mode but still gave the impression that she was anxious to leave.

'C'mon, they'll be looking for us, and I don't think they'll be too happy with any of us'

'I know'

Amber got on front,pulling a helmet off the back so Holly could sit there-she then plunked it on Holly's head, there was only one helmet but Amber didn't care.

'Hold on'

Freeway announced as she sped down the mountain-both girls holding on for dear life. Holly wanted to speak but was busy concintrating on staying balanced on the back of the speeding bike. It was her first time ever riding a motorcycle-the ride was hair raising, though at the same time invigorating. They sped down the same path Amber and Hammershot had gone down the night previous-in away it was a short cut. There were no real paths to follow but in half the time they'd make it to the small community past Rayliegh known as Heffley-Which would give them an advantage over any Autobots who might give chase. Amber felt her pulse racing, she was also a little disappoined, she knew that she couldn't return to the Autobot base after this-not after sneaking both Hammershot and Holly out before either could be questioned. She also knew Ali,Blitz-Gear,Scout,Sideswipe and Sunstreaker (indirectly) were going to get into alot of trouble because of their 'part' in the escape plan. Freeway,as well-Amber didn't know what was going to happen to Freeway now, she couldn't exactly go back either. Oh well, she was the one who wanted to help,she knew the concequences-same with Blitz-Gear, they both knew what they were doing by helping her. Another thought struck Amber-What was Holly going to do-to chose? There was an obvious answer but Amber had to make sure...And hoped that Holly wouldn't be stupid enough to chose the other choice...


	47. Chapter FortySix: A choice,a chance and

46: A choice, A chance,and a Life

They'd just zipped past Rayleigh, the damage was very visible from the highway-Amber hoped Devon was alright and knew that he was probably somewhere hiding,like a turtle. Freeway kept her speed, she'd stop for no one-human,Autobot or otherwise. But where was she going? Amber better tell her soon, they were quickly coming up to the intersection, a dangerous place for last minute descions.As if reading the fem's mind,Amber turned around to face Holly as best as possible without falling to her death.

'I freed you, but where do you want to go now?'

She spoke loudly so that her passanger could hear her-Holly gave a growl like the answer was obvious.

'Where do you think?'

'I don't know, you have to tell me'

'The Decepticons!'

Freeway gave a hesitant sway, she didn't like the idea of going right up to the Decepticon base and handing Holly over-she then would be labelled a traitor if she wasn't killed. Again Amber seemed to sense what Freeway was feeling and gave a loud sigh.

'Do you really want to go to the Decepticon's...'

'Yes!'

'Or...'

Holly pulled her head back in an act of shock, confusion along with suspecioun creased her face. Even with the helmet on, it was apparent that she was unsure of what to make of the random choice.

'OR?'

Amber smirked coily, she'd gotten a good reaction from her friend.

'Or...Do you want to go see a Hummer?'

'Go..see...a...Wait...What...What did you just...Amber...I...what...STOP!'

'We can't stop, we're going a hundred over the current speed limit'

'I...is it...is he...He's alive!?'

Holly was holding onto Amber like her life depended on it, ut it wasn't because of the speed they travelled at-tears appeared at the corners of her eyes.

'What do you think!'

Amber's smirk widene as realization sunk in her friend's mind, but then a hurt look crossed Holly's face.

'You lied to me!'

'When?'

'You tole me he was dead!'

'I told you nothing-you didn't ask me if he was or not. YOU just assumed that he was'

'I...well..after...'

Holly fell silent, lost in her own thoughts and unnoticing that they were now coming up to the intersection.

'Where am I going!?'

She asked loudly,it was a busy time of day and at this speed...

'Take me to my Hummer!'

Holly demanded in a loud growl,Freeway banked to the right and slid into the turning lane-the only downfall was that for most of the way she would have to do the speed limit,as they were heading through part of the city. At least she figured most of the Decepticon's in town were busy with the stuff going on out in Rayleigh. Amber glanced to Holly once more,but said nothing-Tears of joy rolled down Holly's face as she kept her head bowed. He was alive! And soon she would be reunited with him, she had been in so much pain thinking that he'd died because of...but now she didn't care...she didn't care who knew...she just wanted to be with Hammershot again. It was true...she loved him...It may have been stupid, he was a mechanical being and she was not-but that didn't stop how she felt. She just wished that she could wrap her arms around him, oh well, he was alive! She was happy! And nothing could change her mood...

"GRAH! I hate this! Are we there yet?'

Holly whined as she trodded behind Amber beside an old road some distance past the airport-they'd left Freeway several miles back where the road turned from cement to dirt-they were now walking to their destination.A fact that they'd been on the move for over two hours dug into Holly's mind, she was tired,sweaty,in pain,and just wanted to be wherever it was that Amber was leading her.

'You chose this'

'No...I chose Hammershot, not to be a Buzzard Buffet'

'Same difference'

'It is not!'

'Keep arguing an' you will passout from exaustion. And I don't feel like dragging you the rest of the way there.'

'Blah-Why couldn't Freeway have driven us? I'm sure she'd be fine on this terran'

'I told you earlier'

'whatever...blah..I'm thirsty'

Holly interrupted, Amber shook her head and looked ahead of them-under an hour, she'd be there already...if Holly hadn't insisted on taking a bathroom break.

'Just over that ridge...is where we're headed'

'Where are you takin' me anyways?'

'The only safe place...the catacombs'

'What...wait...Hold on a minute...We're going to the...'

Holly came to a complete hault, looking tired still but a strong expression filled her face now. She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced around the isolated area.

'You plan on leading me to Padova City!?'

'Where?'

'Padova, its the name of the Ghost town the catacombs are-'

'Oh yea...are you going to be okay?'

Holly's hands dropped to her sides and she took several steps back, she didn't look good any more.

'what'

'Amber! The catacombs! Padova...No...'

'Huh?'

'The Aslyum is there! I can't go there! I...Aslyums are the one thing I can't...stand ...I'm scared of more then anything. I can't...you know why I can't...especially that one...with a history as gruesome as that...no...'

Holly was panicing, she looked and sounded like she wasn't even herself, amber simply sighed and walked right up to Holly, without even hesitation, she slapped her friend across the face with enough force to leave a red mark. Holly gave a loud yelp of surprise,bringing her hand up to her face and looking hurt that Amber had just done that.

'Snap out of it!'

Amber growled, she wanted to continue on and to stop wasting time.

'You don't have to go anywhere near the damn aslyum-there's another entrance. And its not like you'll be on your own. Unless you don't want to see him'

'I do!'

'Then shut up and follow me'

Holly gulped and nodded, deciding to remain silent the rest of the walk there.

They stood at the edge of town,the sun was beginning to set which cast long shadows throughout the ghost town. On the far side sat the cemetary,in plain view on the small hill above the rest of the town-while the aslyum stood in shadows and overgrown shrubs. The city wasn't a complete wasteland-there was a caretaker there,though many said he was crazy and was rumoured to not only set up beartraps but also shoot people for trespassing. Holly shivered violently,Amber knew why but decided to let it rest for now.

'Where's this other entrance?'

Holly asked as she survayed the area but saw nothing that would lead one to the catacombs, making sure to keep her gaze away from the building she feared.

'Hidden'

'Oh blah'

Holly stuck her tongue out but Amber sighed and grabbed her by the arm-pulling her towards a small house.

'C'mon.'

'what'

'you need to freshen up'

'no, I want Hammershot'

'Holly...You stink! I don't think you want him to think your dirty'

Again Holly stuck her tongue out but made no more protest against any of this-she kept looking around as if expecting somthing to jump out of the shadows at them.

An hour later,Holly stood in middle of the small house, wearing new clothes but her hair was still soaked. Amber had been doodling odd designs in the dust by a window, it was dark now and very little light filtered in from outside.

'Feel better?'

'Yes, much'

'Good'

Amber stood up and smiled widely, though she doubted that Holly had seen it.

'Ready?'

Holly looked up, taking deep breaths she held her hands tightly infront of her and nodded.

'yes'

'you sure?'

'Of course! Please...I just want to...'

'Alright,you...c'mon'

Amber led Holly out of the house and down a path that lead towards the river and away from the city. The whole walk took them less then ten minutes, Amber stopped when the path came to an abrupt stop.

'In the river?'

'...Yes...I've hidden your Hummer in the river'

Holly looked worried for a moment before she realized that Amber was being sarcastic-she then noticed what looked to be a downward slope away from the beach.

'Down there?'

'What do you think?'

'Amber!'

'yes, but stay behind me'

The pair slowly made their way down the slope, it was much more difficult given the fact that Holly couldn't see where she was going. Moments later they hit ashfault and a large mouth leading inside the hill stood before them. Amber gave a silent nod, moving ahead some she glanced around apparently able to see in the dark better then Holly. They had made it inside before Holly gave a small whimper,Amber quickly shushed her but their pressence had probably already been noticed. Amber didn't want to go much further and came to a stop, again Holly ran into the back of her but it went unnoticed.

'Don't tell me you went and got yourself lost'

She mocked loudly, though she really hoped that the one she was now talking to hadn't-it would be a hard task to find him...if they were even that lucky.

'Can't even sit still for...'

'Must you always be so-'

Stepping around a barely lit corner was the familiar form of Hammershot, he looked like he was uncomfortable-his head was only about five to seven feet from the ceiling. Though Holly didn't notice that, she tried to pass Amber but was held back.

'Is that anyway to speak to the person who just saved your life?'

'Hardly'

'And are you blind?'

'What?'

'Stupid,maybe this was a mistake'

Amber stepped back several feet,pushing Holly back as well. Hammershot growled and stepped foreward to reveal a large sticky spider-web covering half his face. He pulled it off and growled, flicking the web to the ground.

'What are you-'

His gaze fell upon Amber then to a form several feet behind her...Holly! She seemed to be trying to hold back her tears as she stared up at him. Though Amber still stood between them,glaring at the Hummer,she looked unimpressed and knew she was being ignored by the other two with her now.

'Holly...are you...are you alright?'

He asked, unsure of what else to say to her-Holly nodded her head but the tears slipped down her face.

'Hammershot...'

Amber turned her head to face her friend, and against her better judgement, moved aside so that Holly could pass...


	48. Chapter FortySeven: The Catacombs

47- The Catacombs

The moment Amber moved aside,Holly bolted foreward, her eyesight blurred by the tears that now streamed down her face-she was so happy to see Hammershot. He kneeled down on one knee as Holly approached, wishing that he could embrace her without fear of crushing her. She ran straight into his shin, hugging it the best she could-she gave a long sigh of relief.

'I was so scared'

She admitted to him, Hammershot looked from Holly to Amber,who looked like she was trying to give them a private moment but was still very aware of what was being said and going on.

'How come?'

He asked finally bringing his gaze back upon the girl at his leg.

'Because...Because...I thought...I had...I...'

Holly was trying to speak through her sobbing, but wasn't getting much said-Hammershot glanced to Amber in an aquising manner but decided against saying anything to her.

'Its alright-we're safe,no one's going to find us here'

Holly sighed and burried her face into the cool metal shin, she felt stupid, he probably didn't even understand what was wrong with her, probably just thought she was hurt physically or something. Pushing back, she tried to wipe the tears away and laughed, though it sounded slightly forced.

'I'm sorry,Hammershot, I cried on you, now you're going to get all rusty'

'Its fine'

'No,its not! Everytime you see me,lately, I'm crying...You must think I'm a weak, whiney,little pathetic human who keeps getting you almost killed'

'You're wrong. I don't think...that'

He looked down at her as if he wanted to say something else but remained quiet for a few moments. Holly smiled up at the Hummer, her face was red and puffy from crying so much.

'Hammershot...'

'Hmmmm?'

He stared at Holly,waiting for her to continue,instead she giggled and dashed past him-disappearing into the darkness behind him. He turned to Amber, hoping that maybe she'd be able to offer an answer as to what had just happened. Standing back onto his feet,Hammershot gave a sigh-it was a relief to no longer have to worry about Holly getting herself in trouble but...what were they going to do? They couldn't hide forever, without the code or a sudden change in the balance, the war would surely continue for much longer...longer then any human's lifespan. He didn't want anything to happy to Holly, but perhaps he'd feel better after a few days...he still felt very uneasy about sitting so far, so isolated, with no idea what was going on around the city...he knew that he should feel lighter soon, it was probably the conditions under which they were in and the strange terrain.

Dammit! Why'd she just run off? She'd only been looking foreward to seeing Hammershot again so badly. Perhaps she just didn't know what to do with herself being so happy and excited, and maybe she just didn't want to deal with her emotions. Was she ready to? Was she ready to tell a giant robot that h ment the world to her? She hated it, her mind threw so many thoughts at her in situations where she knew that she should just say what...how she felt. It was infuriating, she should just say it, but then its out there and there's no taking it back. And then, there was the fact that he probably didn't even feel the same way towards her, well, he did care about her but probably on the guardian level...then things would be weird and she didn't want that...

'Grrr..Damn Heart!'

Holly growled while grabbing her head and coming to a stop. She blinked a few times, looked around and sighed. While she was wandering deep in thought, she forgot to watch where she was going and was now lost-another thing that nagged at her, was why were the tunnels light with a dim light? Glancing around, she saw small lights hanging from power cords that ran along the walls-well, at least that answered one problem...but she was still lost in the catacombs. Maybe she'd get lucky and find her way out, or perhaps confirm one of the many rumours about the catacombs...wait...THAT...probably wasn't a good thing to want to stumble across. Shivering at the realization of all this, Holly held her hands clasped tightly together over her chest...what was she going to do now?

Amber turned her full attention upon Hammershot but remained silent, slowly her eyes wandered past the Hummer and back again,she raised one brow and crossed her arms over her chest.

'You're not going to follow her?'

'Am I sappoused to?'

'Well...she just ran into a dark underground maze,she'll probably get lost and if not run into something'

'Like'

'Wouldn't you like to know'

Amber shook her head in disappointment, she was about to open her mouth again to say something more, probably to harrass the bot about not really caring about Holly when the air was shattered by a blood curdling scream. Hammershot spun around to face the direction the girl had gone, concern etched across his face but all Amber did was sigh.

'So, now you're worried.'

'Holly...'

'Calm down'

'What?'

Hammershot turned to glare down at the human, who was making no sense to him and greatly infuriated him.

'SPIDERS! ALL OVER ME! AAAAH!'

Amber gave another sigh and let her arms drop to her sides, in one hand was what appeared to be a nearly transparent silver string-which shimmered as she moved.

'What's that?'

Hammershot asked with a nod towards the string, Amber gave a shrug and began to walk towards the tunnel HOlly had gone down but came to a stop to glare back at Hammershot who had taken a step to follow.

'Stay here'

'No'

'You have to stay here'

'Why?'

Amber held the end of the string up so that the Hummer could see it clearly and waited as if her answer was evident. Hammershot kneeled down and touched the girl's hand with his.

'You need to stay here to hold this end of the string so that we both don't get lost on our way back'

'I see now'

'I should kick you'

'What...what for?'

Amber didn't reply as she dashed away, with one hand holding the string, using it as a guide to find her hysterical and probably terrified friend.

Ten minutes later,Amber came to a stop and looked around, at first she didn't see anything, but she heard whimpering.

'Holly?'

'Eeeee'

looking down Amber saw Holly laying on the ground, stiff as a board staring straight up and looking like she had been hit by a petrifying spell.

'What are you doing down there?'

Amber asked with a chuckle, placing her hands on her hips and giving her friend a light kick in the ribs.

'They're all over me...'

'Well...get up'

'I'll get bitten'

'Get up'

Amber booted Holly in the side again, this time hard enought that her friend would move.

'Ouchies!'

Holly whimpered as she lept to her feet and did a small jig-several large spiders did go flying off her and only after she was certain that it was safe to stop, did Holly stop spazzing out.

'Feel better?'

'uh...no?'

Amber growled and kicked Holly again, this time with the intent to hurt-Holly bellowed loudly and lept around on one foot. She barely noticed the string attached to her ankle until she rubbed her leg...how had that gotten there? and When? She probably should have had known the answer by then as she glanced to the scowling Amber, who no longer looked as pleased to see her friend alright any more.

'What?'

She asked in a confused manner, why was her friend so upset all of a sudden? She was sure that it wasn't because she had almost gotten lost in the catacombs...then what?

'Holly"

'What did I do?'

'You ran away'

'Uh...'

Amber kicked Holly again this time in the ass-causing the friend to almost topple over onto the ground once more.

'I didn't bring you all this way to be with that damned Hummer only for you to run off on him...I don't have time for this...'

'What..I...'

Amber growled and crossed her arms over her front.

'I brought you to him. You want to be with him. Stop hiding and go to him already''

She said as simply as possible, incase Holly got lost in the conversation. But Holly only lowered her head and sighed, her shoulders drooping as she did so.

'I know...but...I...'

'You need to talk to him'

'But what if, he doesn't...I don't want to lose him'

Amber sighed again, rolling her eyes she wanted to give Holly another swift kick in the arse but decided against it for the time being.

'You'll never know, unless you try talking to him'

'I guess...'

'Holly...don't make me take you back to the Autobots'

'Okay! okay! I'll...I'll talk to him...about...'

'Good. Now c'mon! before that big stupid robot gets himself lost as well'

Amber didn't let Holly protest about having Hammershot be called stupid, grabbing her friend by the arm she began to lead them back to where the Hummer should be waiting. Holly was silent for a few moments when she stared at the back of Amber's head again, questions rose in her mind, many of which she tried to form the words to ask but couldn't.Maybe they weren't that important at the moment, she already had too many other things on her mind-What had happened to Devon,what had happened to her friends,would the Decepticons go for her family, what was going on with the Decepticons, how much did Amber know, who were the men Jen had warned her about, Where was Jen? and many more along those lines.

'Amber...What did you mean by...not having time for this?'

She decided to ask, hoping that the most recent would be the easiest to be explained,though with Amber, nothing was easily explained.

'Oh...Heh, don't go worring about it'

'Where are you planning on going?'

'Someplace'

'Where?'

The pair rounded the corner and Hammershot moved foreward, dropping the string he was holding and looking glad to see them. Holly smiled widely, dashing past Amber and up to the Hummer, giving him another large hug, or as much as she possibly could.

'Hammershot!'

'Yes?'

"I found you!'

'Heh. I didn't go anywhere'

'I know...'

Holly rubbed her face against his leg affectionately, seeming to be absolutly amused by this. Amber merely laughed and began to walk past them, dropping the string that she held as well, ignoring as Hammershot watched her walk past them.

'Amber?'

'I won't be back for awhile...'

'What?'

Both Hammershot and Holly exclaimed in unison which caused a big smirk to cross Amber's face, and she glanced back over her shoulder.

'Gotta make sure no one finds you two'

'Where are you going to go? Its not like you can go back to the Autobots after all that you've done'

Hammershot pointed out in a strange tone that caused Amber to frown for a moment, she looked as if she was insulted at his wording.

'I'll worry about that , you just stay here and make sure nothing happens to Holly'

'It won't'

'But if it does-'

'It won't.'

'Whatever! I'll personally see you get what's coming to you if anything does'

'Your threats mean nothing'

Amber glared darkly at the Hummer but decided to not say what she wanted , not when Holly was right there and knowing that her words would also effect her friend. Turning her attention to Holly, she smiled again as if nothing had been said between her and Hammershot.

'Don't worry about me...oh and don't fret about the caretaker...he's a really sweet guy'

With that Amber dashed down the dark entry tunnel, leaving Holly to be alone with Hammershot, she just hoped that she had made the right choice by bringing them together-that Holly would be happy and safe. Amber still had no idea of exactly where she was going or end up, but she still had to find all the answers to her remaining questions...she needed to find out what had happened to Devon and she needed away to defend herself...from all the robots...she needed Pierre...


	49. Chapter FortyEight: Sabbatoge From Withi

48-Sabatoge from Within

"I can't believe it took nearly four hours to calm that slaggin' dinosaur down and then we had to relocate him out of the human establishment!'

Ironhide grumbled as he stalked down the hall, followed by the others who had gone out to Rayleigh-Bumblebee,Prowl,Jazz,Ratchet and Scout. They all looked irratable and tired, needing a much over due rest period to recharge.

'I searched that whole settlement, there wasn't a single Decepticon there'

Bumblebee added with a sigh and a shrug. The humans there had seemed to have managed to clear the area of most dangers to their health, unfortunatly that had only caused the Autobot's more trouble in trying to sipher through the rubble and destruction to try and dectect what had set the dinobot off in the first place.

'Maybe he was mistaken-He thought he saw a Decepticon'

Jazz offered but didn't sound too convinced of his own words, it was more wishful thinking then anything.

'Unlikely'

'What I want to know is why Devon had a Decepticon hiding in his garage'

Prowl muttered, his distrust of the humans involved showing in his voice.

'Someone will have to talk to him...If he is found. I don't believe he was killed but the Decepticon probably took him as a hostage as he fled the scene'

Ratchet seemed to rattle off more to himself but the others gave a nod of agreement, that seemed like the likeliest of outcomes,given that there had been no reports of casulaties..and that was surprising as the damage was pretty bad. Scout,remaining silent was more worried over the connection the Decepticon could have had with the humans-he'd been filled in by Bumblebee about everything he'd missed, excluding Beatdown being a refuge at Devon's. And the fact that despite all their best efforts the Autobots had never been able to bring Holly with the code to the base and then one day Amber goes to Devon's and just happens to run into Holly AND bring her back. What was Amber up to? More then anyone there seemed to currently understand obviously...Amber wasn't as random as she appeared-They ALL had to be careful,and should be paying more attention to the humans.

'SCOUT!?'

The loud bellow startled the Mazda from his deep thoughts, though it was more of WHO was taking such a tone with him that startled him even more.

'Scout...Come here now'

The others glanced over to the Mazda in the back, Bumblebee moved beside his friend and in a low whisper nervously shot a glance to the one calling Scout upfront.

'Oh man...I've not seen Optimus this mad at one of us in...well...a very long time..What did you do?'

'I...Nothing...I've not done a thing...that I'm aware of'

'I hate to tell ya this, but you've done something.'

Jazz added, falling back to stand beside the blue car as well but was there to give Scout a nudge foreward as to not keep their leader waiting. Scout had no idea what was going on-he'd not done anything-He'd been sent out with the others to deal with Grimlock nearly as soon as he was functional to move on his own. Everything was fine then...what could have happened between then and now? A silent gasp escaped his mouth...Amber! Trying not to let the concern show on his face, Scout stepped foreward,ignoring the confused looks from his comrades. Standing in front of him now was Optimus and he looked like he expected answers...

'Scout,what's going on?'

Optimus was trying to keep his voice calm but it was apparent that he wasn't impressed.

'I...We went to Rayleigh...'

'No, not that...Where's Hammershot?'

'What? He's in his cell'

'Its Empty'

'He escaped? Why are you coming to me with this?'

The tone in Scout's voice was more of annoyance now then confusion, why would any of them think he'd let a prisoner go? True, they had once been good friends and Scout didn't entirely agree on how Hammershot had been treated while in their custidity. But he wasn't fool enough to release the Hummer, not while he could still return to the Decepticons and give away thier location. This was rediculas, he'd also been out with the others dealing with Grimlock, when had he had time to break Hammershot out AND sneak him out of the base unnoticed?

'Because you were the last one to see him'

'I...What...So?'

Scout growled, he couldn't believe this! Maybe from the others but NOT from Optimus, which is probably why he'd lost his temper so quickly and easily.

'Tell me when do you think I had time to plan this let alone follow though with it? Between being offline recovering from nearly being killed and fighting an impossible dinosaur,when did I do it?'

Optimus sighed heavily, he didn't want to continue this where they stood, in the general area,

'Follow me, we'll continue this elsewhere'

'Fine'

Scout hissed, he was actually grateful that he'd be away from the prying optics and curious spectators that would gather at such a confrontation. He waited silently for Optimus to lead him away, oh, the rumours that would be flying around the base about this...and he knew exactly which two mechs that would be responsible for the rumors...

It wasn't too far down the hall,Scout was amazed, he normally didn't walk down this hall but with everything that had happened in the past weeks, he'd walked down it at least three times a day. Optimus lead Scout to the 'briefing' room-Scout was surprised to see Ali and Blitz-Gear in there as well, the Lambo twins were there as well...were they suspects to this as well? Why wasn't Chris,Liane and Curtis there? Surely they were more logical suspects then him and the other four? Slowly he took a spot next to Sunstreaker and noticed that the others were just as confused as he was, Ali just looked pissed.

'I am not angery with any of you, but I do want ot know just what you think you're doing. Wheither its just a series of unrelated events or it you know more of what's happening then you are letting on. I want the trut from all of you. None of you are in any sort of troubl, however,I am concerned about the safety of this base and all of those inside of it. Just what do the Decepticons know and whiether or not we should be mounting for an attack or not'

Optimus paused, looking at each infront of him in turn before continuing on with a sigh,

'Scout-you were the last one to see Hammershot before it was discovered he was missing. Did he say anything to you? Or was there anyone down there that shouldn't have been"

Scout frowned, something was off about this whole picture and he was certain Optimus knew that as well.

'He refused to speak to me, and the only oddity I found was a great lack of guard. Lack of security down there period, wasn't there anyone assigned to watch him?'

'Yes, but that's already been delt with. Are you certain that he said nothing? Not even hinting towards a plan to escape or having an accomplish from outside his cell'

'Yes. Do you honestly think someone as stubborn as Hammershot is going to tell anyone what they want to hear? And no, He's not that stupid to break out while disarmed.'

'hmmmm'

Optimus mused as he turned his attention now to Blitz-Gear and Ali, he seemed to seriously concider what he was going to say. Ali growled angerly and moved foreward, she'd overheard one of the larger bots say something about what they were in there for.

'If I were a spay, Decepticon's would already be all over this place'

'But wouldn't it be better to wait and gathe more information?'

'Bah, that's what he's for'

Ali gestured up to Blitz-Gear, who looked a little hurt and shocked that the girl had implied he was a traitor, a tool for Megatron.

'You're not helping...'

'Does it really matter? I'm apparently a spy and you a traitor-'

'Feh. Everyone knows I don't have a treaterous bone in my body'

'You don't have bones,period. You're a freakin' giant robot!'

'Oh yea...'

Ali growled, this was all Holly's fault, somehow and where was Holly now that she thought about it? Probably hiding, or maybe Chris had found her, though he seemed...different, once he found out that Holly was also missing.

'And you two'

Optimus turned his attention to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe as they shoved each other around. They both tried to look seriou for a moment as they were being adressed by their commander.

'What exactly were you doing?'

'What? oh..Jet-'

'Judo'

'You know-'

'Demostrating for the humans'

'When and how have any of the humans heard of your Jet-Judo? You've had little contact with them until recently'

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe glanced to each other, that thought really hadn't occured to them at the time.

'Well..There was Amber-she'd never seen it, and'

'She missed it the first time, blind,remember'

Sunstreaker replied giving his brother a shamed look, Sideswipe just brushed it off

'That's why she wanted us to do it again'

'But...where is she,I don't see her here'

'Probably laughing at poor Prowl'

The question brought up by the brothers obviously caught the attention of Optimus and Scout, it was something that had been lingering on both of their minds.

'Scout...Where's Amber?'

Optimus asked, drawing a connection though not commenting on it yet, he did look very concerned once again.

'I don't know'

'How...'

'I've tried to tell you all before...Keep an eye on that girl...she's mischievious if left alone'

'Keh.'

Ali sneered knowingly, she was also keen to find out what had happened to Amber, but had a feeling that she already knew the answer and that was the real reason they were all where they were...because of Amber.

'I think she may have the answer to all of this'

'Good luck getting it from her'

'What do you-'

A sharp rapping knock at the door cut Optimus off frome what he wanted to ask-Not even waiting for a responce Jazz walked in and gave a loud sigh.

'The tension's so thick in here I could cut it with a energy sword'

'What is it,Jazz?'

'Uh...Prime, we have another major problem'

Groaning in dismay Optimus turned his full attention upon his second in command.

'What else has gone wrong?'

'Uh...Well, at least the Decepticons haven't come anywhere near this base...BUT...I think I know why'

'Just tell us Jazz'

Jazz heaved his shoulders, the serious look on his face didn't suit him well and it seemed to foreshadow what he was about to tell his leader.

'Don't blow something but...'

'Jazz!'

'Amber,Freeway and Holly are gone. As in completely no longer on the premises and uh...it was confirmed that our security camera's had been tampered with within the time we believe Hammershot escaped'

'Wait...Amber's gone!'

Scout lurched foreward, this was bad, really bad, he had just assumed she was hiding somewhere within the base, but if she was no longer there...this was worse then any of the others realized. Blitz-Gear glanced down to Ali, the human was growling and cussing under her breath-she knew that Holly would go back to the Decepticons and Amber would help her.

'Yes, which means she's probably with Freeway and Holly, and gone to Hammershot or worse Megatron, or at least captured on their way there.'

Jazz sighed, if the girls had fled the city then they were at a higher risk of attack, the Decepticons were desperate and unpredictable.

'Hmmm'

Optimus looked away from all those currently present,

'We need to find them quickly and hope the Decepticons haven't already'

'If Holy hasn't gone running back to them by now'

Ali cut in bitterly, Chris was not going to like this news at all, he'll probably be even more pissy then he already was.

'I don't think Amber would let Holly go to Megatron, no right away at least'

Scout said hesitantly, though knew that if Holly wanted to go that badly then no one would stop her and that Amber would indeed help her get there.

'Where are they,Scout?'

'I've already told you! I don't know'

Ali glanced around at the towering giants, this wasn't going well and to make matters worse, she figured that even if she told them who the real py and traitor were, they wouldn't believe her-was this what Amber had wanted? She didn't know but someone was in need of a good butt kicking,mostly the robots for their being so blind.

'Prime, you're asking all the wrong questions'

Blitz-Gear spoke up finally, he was grinning like an idiot but his voice revealed that he knew more what he was doing.

'What do you mean,Blitz-Gear?'

Shrugging the Ferrari slowly rolled his head to glance at the twins

'For starters, those two have nothing to do with any of this, other then being accessories to something they knew nothing about'

'What!?'

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe declared in unison, both looking disgusted at the Ferrari's words.

'That's right, you're both tools for the human!'

Blitz-Gear chuckled,though when he saw Optimus' glare,he let his smile fade for a moment.

'Blitz-Gear,do ou know where they went?'

'Not a blooming clue'

His large grin returned and even if he ha known,he wouldn't have told Optimus, for starters...Blitz-Gear didn't follow him, the mech that he did was still across the border, as far as he was aware of...


	50. Chapter FortyNine: Freedom's dark side

Chapter 49-Freedom's dark side

"And if you look between those two stars,you'll be looking directly at my home'

'Where?'

'Cybertron...oh..heh, no, I guess we can't see it from here'

The two forms laid in some tall grass outside the tunnels, stargazing, so far from civilization, the night sky was absolutely beautiful and it was silent aside from the random howl in the distance.

'Do you...'

Holly began, shifting her head in the grass to look over at Hammershot, who laid next to her...she gave a small shiver, it was late and the ground was starting to grow chilly, probably quicker then normal due to being so close to the river bank.

'Miss your home?'

Hammershot tore his gaze from the stars to look over at the girl laying next to him, allowing a small sigh to escape his throat.

'...Sometimes...Do you mi...'

Holly blinked at the cut off question, she sat up and turned her head away so that the hummer couldn't see her eyes dancing with near tears, she looked in the direction the city was, barely seeing a light glow from the city lights.

'Holly, I didn't mean to...'

'Its alright.Hammershot.'

Turning back to face him, she slowly forced herself to her feet,it hurt slightly from laying on the hard ground for so long-she made her way over to him and came to a stop by placing her hands on his leg. Staring at the smooth metal, it was cold to touch but gave off a strange and pleasant heat at the same time.

'Holly?'

'I do miss my home and family...but I can't go back and...I wouldn't want to...not without you,Hammershot'

She smiled up at him, before leaning foreward to rest against his leg-Hammershot moved his hand and paused just short of touching her back with it,he looked as if he wanted to comfort her but didn't want to hurt her.

'Are you alright"

'hmmm...oh...yea...just a little tired'

Holly glanced up trying her best to stifle a yawn, despite worring about what was going on around the city and with her friends, she felt like it was all a million miles away.

'Then let's go inside, you can rest there'

'But...there's spiders in there'

'I'll protect you'

Holly smiled widely and pushed away from Hammershot, he was watching her carefully and a smirk appeard on his face. The moment she was a safe distance, he transformed into his alternative mode, following close behind her into the dark tunnel.

After a few feet they came to a stop and Hammershot held a door open so that Holly could climb into the back. Yawning again, she did so without really thinking-the back seat was always comfortable and as big as her bed back home. Laying on her side, she rested her head on her arm and snuggled into the leather seat. Hammershot had the heating adjusted just the way Holly liked it, she looked truely comfortable and happy, looking about ready to fall asleep.Slowly her eyes opened and she stared out the front for a few moments before speaking.

'Hammershot?'

'Hmmm'

'Will you promise me something'

'uh...Alright'

'Promise me...Promise me that you'll never leave me'

'Holly. I'll NEVER leave you, I swear'

Holly smiled and snuggled into the leather some more.

'Hammershot?'

'Yes"

'What do you think will happen to us..now?'

Holly sounded really tired, it was obvious that she was falling asleep as she spoke but trying to stay awake long enough to finish her conversation. Hammershot had been thinking the same hing but didn't want the girl to worry about anything-at least for one night.

'Don't worry about that now, it'll be alright, we'll be alright, you'll see'

'okay. I believe you'

'You really should sleep'

'I know...'

Holly rolled onto her other side, now she had her back facing the front of the Hummer, she had her eyes closed again and a large grin was on her face.

'Hammershot'

'Hmmmm'

There was a long pause,Hammershot was beginning to think that Holly had fallen asleep, but the girl tiredly continued.

'I just like to say your name and hear you answer'

'Heh'

Holly shifted and shivered slightly as she tried to fing a more comfortable position.

'Are you cold?'

'no, I'm fine...and Thank you...'

Hammershot gave a small grunt to acknowledge that he understood what holly had ment when she thanked him.

'Hammershot'

'Hmmmm'

This time there was no response and Hammershot knew that Holly had finally fallen asleep. He gave a soft sigh, she was safe and with him and happy, or at least she acted happy to be there with him. It was while he sat in silent contemplation that he realized that he had truely missed the girl, and as he thought more realized that he was glad that he had made the decision to go with Amber...He still was uncertain of just what it was he wsa feeling inside, it was all new and slightly confusing, but he hadn't felt happier in his life then he did while stargazing with the girl...perhaps it was her undying loyality and devotion to him that made her different from others, he wasn't sure. However, he did know that he'd not let anyone go near Holly, not while they wanted the code, he would fight the all and die...if it came to that. He'd risk his own life for her happiness and freedom...no longer believing she should die for their war. He let his thoughts drift on for a while longer as he stayed on guard, content with how they were at the current moment and keeping his mind from worring about the world outside for the time being...

Amber didn't know what time it was, just that it was really late and she was tired and incredibly sore. Well, at least for the time being she wouldn't have to worry about Holly-though still wondered if Hammershot would stay not that he had what he'd wanted, or would he stay put? Was he just using her, and now that she was gone, take Holly back to the Decepticons? She was still uncertain of Hammershot's intensions but he did say that he cared, so hopefully he wouldn't do something stupid. But incase of anything like that...Amber had made several calls on a phone before heading out of Padova the first time,and now her eyes while she was away was around. Lost in thought,Amber didn't even notice the shadowy fom racing towards her until the air was broken by a sound.

'Hey! Its about time you showed up!'

FreeWay chuckled as she came to a skidding stop several paces behind Amber, who didn't even slow or notice the transforming femme.

'so, you took Holly to Hammershot...do you think they're safe? I meand wouldn't you think that he'd...'

'As long as they stay where they are, they'll be fine'

'If you ay so...hey! Where are you going?'

'Back to town'

'uh...'

FreeWay followed after the human who was only a few feet shorter then she, looking to the dark sky, the femme sighed lightly. She had turned her back on Optimus, the Autobots by helping this human, that on its own wasn't what mae her feel a little sad, but rather thinking about Scout...he would never forgive her after this. But this girl would eventually lead FreeWay to who she had to get in contact wit, someone she thought was dead until last week,and next time...she was not going to miss her chance.

'Hey! Are we going to walk all the way back?'

'We could'

FreeWay smiled widely before transforming once again, driving ahead of Amber and coming to a stop in the girl's path.

'So...Where to...'

'Dunno yet, just drive'

'Okay!'

As soon as Amber was safely seated on the bike,Freeway took off down the road, there was still a few hours of darkness left so they would have some cover coming into the town and hopefully make it to a destination before they're discovered...by anyone. They both fell silent, Amber lost in her thoughts while Freeway concintrated on staying alert as they moved. She did not like passing the airport so much and was surprised that they'd managed to sneak by more then once undetected, but then again the Decepticons were idiots.If they were spotted,Freeway knew that she wouldn't be able to hold them off for long, maybe out run them long enough to hide but they had the tactical advantage of the air, while she did not, she was not experienced in real combat as her perpous was more of a decoy then to fight. She could see the glow of the city in the distance, it was haunting but beautiful at the same time,it was a pity to know that the glow was actually pollution killing this wonderous planet. She still didn't understand why the humans were so bent on destroying their only home, but she couldn't ask anyone about it as it seemed to be a touchy subject amongst most. Freeway sighed inwardly and was about to let her mind drift off to other thoughts when a creeping sensation came over her...Sure enough, not even a minute later,the area around them was illuminated by blinding light. It was coming from behind and above them-Amber was instantly snapped to attention at the sudden attack.

'Hold on Amber!'

Freeway knew it was Decepticons and knew if the seekers were there then she'd have a real hard time outrunning them on this terrain, her tires were ment for pavement not offroading.Wasting no time,Freeway sped as fast as she possibly could with Amber's weight but the lights in the sky easily kept up with her, only supporting her theory of it being a seeker.This was dangerous, it wsa hard to see where she was going and that was probably part of the Decepticon's plan, trying to distract her enough to cause her to crash into something and have the human go hurtling off.

'Freeway...'

'Amber, I can't out run them for long'

'I know'

Amber bowed her head and lowered her body as close to the bike as possible to give as little wind resistance as possible.

'Damn...'

Amber growled, if the Decepticons saw them and knew the direction they'd come from,would they go looking for where th pair had come from? More then likely, and there was no way of warning Hammershot, though if they stayed where they were sappoused to, then perhaps they'd go unnoticed still.

'Dammit all'

Freeway took a sharp turn, she could feel that Amber nearly fell off but it was at that point that Freeway saw who was chasing them...she was confused...Barricade was barrelling straight towards them, but who had been chasing them from the air...and where had they gone? This was not good, she wsa being lead to where the Decepticons wanted her to go, this was not going to happen. With a deep sigh she spun again and sped back the way she'd come, straight towards the black and white police car.

'What-'

'Hold on!'

Freeway raised her front end,rearing up and with a hop, she sped over the police car's hood-launching both herself and amber into the air-it was a wonderous sensation. For a few moments they were completely weightless, Freeway hollered loudly as gravity began to pull them back down.

'Yee-haaaah!'

Suddendly there was a rush of wind, followed by what felt like the world exploding-Freeway was smacked in mid-air by the wing of a seeker-sending her tumbling through the air-spinning uncontrollably, she felt Amber lose her grip and go flying off somewhere as well.

'Amber!'

She knew that the human's body was alot weaker then her's and would take worse to the landing after such a fall.Freeway felt herself hit the ground,she then was airborne again, then on the ground, and so forth like this for a while as she bounced across the earth,deciding to transform as she flew to a stop, hoping that it would soften the blow...only did she come to a stop against a large boulder, landing in a crumpled heap and finding that the innitial impact had done more damage to her systems then she thought.Trying to stand,she felt her circuits buzzing loudly but then she was forced roughly back into the ground by someone stomping on her back.

'I thought you said we had to deal with an Autobot not an Auto-lette'

Sneered Skywarp as he applied more pressure upon Freeway. Barricade growled and kneeled by the form of the human, she was still alive but leaking from her head and arms, she appeared unconcious.

'She's not important'

Barricade snapped,picking the unconcious girl up,and holding her in his hand, rolling her over so that she would face him. He reconized this girl, a dark smirk appeared on his face,he now had the chance he almost had back at the airshow.

'Then I'm going to squash this bug...'

'Not so fast'

'Wha'

'She may still be useful'

'But you just said...grah...make up your mind'

Skywarp glared down at Freeway, he looked almost relieved that he didn't have to kill the femme as they were few and far between in this war and though she was an Autobot...

'These two...will lead us to the code,whiether they know it or not'

Barricade wrapped his fingers slowly around the body that laid in his hands, it took all his self restraint to not crush the life from the human.

'Heh...'

Skywarp took his foot off of Freeway and kicked her,causing her to groan some more,rolling onto her back, she was powerless to stop the Decepticons from doing anything.

'Is it just me, or are the Autobots getting weaker and weaker each day'

'I don't care'

Barricade turned away from the annoying seeker and made his way towards the airport-thre were no humans for miles to spot the large forms moving through the night.

'Where's your sense of play?'

Skywarp muttered,bending down to roughly pick up the half concious femme-Freeway tried to protest but couldn't find the energy to speak. Juas as disgusted at being held by a Decepticon, she fell limp and tried to regain some strength-there was a slim chance they would see the light of day again...


	51. Chapter Fifty: A beautiful Goodbye

Chapter 50- A sweet Good-bye

It had been nearly twenty-four hours since everyone was discovered missing and so for there was no sign of any of them. Even with the little infomation Blitz-Gear had given them,now it was like a clock was ticking away over all their heads.

Blitz-Gear leaned against a wall with his arms folded over his chest, beside him were the humans and Ameba. They were in the conference room with Optimus,Ironhide,Blaster,Scout and Ratchet-everyone else had been sent out to try and locate those who were missing. Scout glared at Blitz-Gear, obviously blaming him for helping Amber get away with all of this and as if he thought that the ferrari wasn't telling them everything. Chris was scowling,he was the most annoyed and felt that he had the most to lose, now that all his connnections had disappeared.He, however, wasn't completly on his own, he had one card left if it came to it.

'Is it possible that they actually made it out of the city?'

Ratchet pondered aloud more then questioning anyone, he was staring down at some sort of computer screen-Ironhide growled in return.

'If they did then we'll be chasin' our own tails trying to find them'

he grumbled, moving over to look down at the same screen as the medic.

'What about the space bridge. is it up yet?'

Blaster asked, he'd been monitoring that up until a few days ago so he was already certain of the answer to his own question,though he could hope anyways.

'Not yet'

Replied Optimus, turning his gaze at a larger screen that hung from the ceiling, it was blank.

Curtis glanced up to his Yaris and sighed, he was partly to blame for this as well, though he'd not expected Amber to actually do something this insanely nuts-

'The Decepticons haven't done anything yet, that's a good sign,right"

He hoped it was-Ameba glanced down to her human and smiled supportively, but her mind was elsewhere.

'Maybe'

'Or we're all going to die'

'Ratchet!'

Ameba snapped at her mentor, but he only gave a shrug before returning his attention to what he was doing. The room fell silent once more as all were lost in their own worry and troubling thoughts-what was going to happen to them all now? If the Decepticons got the code, they'd use it almost instantly-and even without the location to the Autobot bast, it would end the war. And at the same time, if they got the location of the base, they could take the oppertunity amongst the chaos and panic to launch a massive attack. Chances were, that the Decepticons knew the humans were gone as well and were looking for them at the same time as the Autobots. Optimus huffed heavily, looking at the blank screen still, waiting...waiting for something, but what?

Crusher hissed darkly as the Subaru stepped into her path-he was smaller then him, she could easily over power the Autobot,she would love nothing more then to tear him apart but she restrained herself. Not because Pomperous had his guns aimed at her chest, but because Liane had decided to meet up with the human who'd called her out. Liane let her blonde hair fall limply on either side of her face, her eyes narrowing to slits as she faced the dark haired man who stood before her. There had been a time when she would have been glad to see the man, she would have run to him, happy to share an adventure with him. But now...all she saw was hate and felt was pain, in a fair fight she knew he was the stronger, ut thats why she had no intentions of fighting fair. Brian stood in his normal indifferent fashion, watching his once common-law wife, he wasn't surprised to see her with a robot now. However, there was not a doubt in his mind that either were there with the 'good' intentions of saving the human race. He didn't care really, he was more there to resolve something that started long before either knew about this war. He was there to get the burden of te past off his shoulders and try to see if there could have been away to have avoided all this-or was it all sappoused to end like this?

'Did you call me out here, just so that you could stare at me?'

Liane growled angerly, she wanted to watch the Autobots run around like idiots-not waste her time standing around having a staring contest with someone she no longer cared about.

'Impatient as always, Liane'

Brian responded with a dark smirk, his stance didn't change but he did look as if he were about to spring foreward on a second's notice.

'What do you want? I'm sure we both have more important things we could be doing right now'

'Not really'

Was he trying to provoke her? Liane growled, slowly balling her hands into fists, this was annoying.

'Just tell me what you want'

'Heh. YOU need to talk. Keeping everything locked away inside, it'll give you a tumor you know.'

'I'm FINE! Or I was until I saw your ugly mug'

Liane reeled, she could feel the years of pain coming back to her in a rush of rage.

'What are you doing here?'

'I'd like to ask you the same, but thats not why I'm here'

Brian had to try and keep Liane from changing the subject,avoiding it all together, like she was famous for doing.

'You just want to torment me further'

'no'

'Wasn't what you did over a year ago more then enough?'

Brian growled thugh he made no effort to show his dark disagreement.

'Why can't you accept that it was an accident?'

'Because it wasn't!'

'Liane!'

He breathed heatedly, though his voice was sharp and his words harsh,Brian never raised his voice while speaking to the woman.

'You were being selfish as always'

'Me!? Selfish? you're one to talk, all you did was sit on that damn computer and yell at Grace'

'I was tired from working all day'

'You barely worked at all, how could you possibly have been tired?'

'After Grace was born...'

'I loved her more then anything'

'No'

'Liane, you've let your hate blind you and cloud your mind...Grace was my world, I was there for her more then you ever were'

Something inside Liane snapped and she yelled in anger more then anything.

'LIAR!!!"

She dashed foreward,moving straight for Brian, he readied himself to catch her. He grabbed her one arm but as he went to grab her other arm, she pulled back enough to get him slightly off balance. As he tried again to reach for her, he felt a sharp pain in his chest-gasping, he looked down. Protruding from his chest was a thin dagger-Liane had it hidden in the sleeve of her shirt, and when Brian had been thrown off balance, she'd slipped it out. Using her own body weight to her advantage, Brian growled but refused to release his grip on the woman.

'This is my beautiful good-bye'

Liane hissed with a dark look in her eyes, there was no light in them, like she was souless. With a grunt he grabbed her around the waist and tossed her several feet behind him-she yelped in pain as she twisted her ankle while landing. Brian opened his mouth but no words escaped-then he crumbled to the ground.

'Brian? Dammit!'

Pomperous' moment of distraction was his downfall, for at that moment Crusher lept foreward-seizing the chance to destroy the Autobot, it didn't matter anymore,it was the end...

Blitz-Gear slid down the wall and tired to catch the humans attention, while the Autobots were all busy looking at something on one of the screens. Ali slowly turned her head to glance at the red car, she had a look of distrust on her face but was curious as to what he wanted.

'I never did tell you why I followed you the night Overkill was killed'

He began in a hushed tone,Chris turned his attention to the conversation but didn't move so that he wouldn't be accused of ease dropping.

'Because your lot is a bunch of unsensative jerks"

Came Ali's response,she didn't even think that there had been a reason other then Blitz-Gear being an Autobot..

'Hey..not all of us are like that...'

Blitz-Gear looked almost insulted but only smiled and shook his hed, keeping an e;ye on the others to see if any of them were paying them any attention.

'Believe it or not...this was ment to happen'

'What'

'Well...you and I...you have no idea how long I've been looking for you'

Ali growled again, she didn't seem impressed with the implications not being said...

'How do you even know about me?'

'Ah...well...'

'You Are a stalker'

'No, not really'

'See...Stalker...'

Blitz-Gear rubbed the back of his head trying to think of how to explain this without the human calling him a stalker again.

'I was instructed to find you by someone else, who was adiment that I keep you alive.'

Ali quickly looked tense and let out a long low growl that ment she didn't like what she'd been told.

'By who? who would care if I lived or not?'

'Uh...Do youknow a girl named Jennifer..'

There was a pause as Ali shot Chris a quick look, he gave a slight shrug as if he had been asked a question.

'The same one as in...Holly's late best friend?'

'The very one'

'I never met her personally, why...how does she even know who I am...she was 'dead' before I met Holly'

'Ah, so you know that she's...'

'I think almost everyone does by now'

'That's not a good thing'

Blitz-Gear glanced to the ceiling but his thoughts were broken by Ali, who wanted her questions answered.

'Now tell me what I have to do with anything currently going on'

'hmmm, you...are one of the 'Guardians''

'The Fuck...what's the...'

Blaster interrupted Ali's question as e made a loud sound of surprise.

'' has a message from the Decepticon's.'

He announced as came darting into the room, he looked like he'd come form a fight, and was on the losing side of it to boot.

'Quick,, what do they have to say'

transformed into his cassette form, hoping into a slot by the computer so that the images could be played for the others to see. Splashing across the screen Optimus had been staring at appeared the images of Freeway,Amber and some red haired man that wasn't familier to those watching the recording. The hotstages were all beaten fairly badly and bound-Scout growled

'Dammit-Amber!'

Optimus placed a hand on Scout's shoulder in an attempt to calm the mech.

'Now that I've gotten your attention,Prime...'

Megatron's voice sneered darkly,though remained out of sight,instead Starscream stepped into the shot, smirking widely and holding a gun to the hostages.

'you know what I want,and I know that you couldn't live with the death of these humans on your shoulders. so, deliver it to me at the following co-ordinates, or all three will die.'

There was a snicker as Starscream moved behind the three,he glanced up, smirking even more wickedly.

'oops,looks like only two are left'

Starscream cheered and as he raised his gun the video cut out but the audio ran still-there was several screams followed by a blast...then silence...

'Don't make the other two join their friend'

And that was were the message came to an end. A stunned and angered silence hung over those in the room. They'd just witnessed the last moments of someone's life, but whose? And what was worse was that the Autobots didn't have what Megatron was demanding-did he already know this? Was it just to lure the Autobots out? Scout had gone silent,staring at the screen and replaying what they'd just witniessed in his mind.

'Prime, what are we going to do? you're not really going to meet that slagging scum,Megatron"

Ironhide demanded, just about as angery as the others-Optimus sighed and turned to face Scout.

'One of them is dead...'

Scout began quietly before Optimus had a chance to say anytying to him, he turned his gaze to Blitz-Gear stood.

'And its your fault!'

'What..wait...what"

'If you hadn't taken Amber out of the base...left her in who knows where..'

'If I hadn't...'

'This wouldn't have had to of happened'

'Don't blame me for what that stupid human'

'Now's not the time to fight amongst ourselves'

Optimus held Scout back, knowing that he wanted to get into a fight with Blitz-Gear.

'I've got to do something...'

Curtis dashed past the others and out the door before he could be stopped, Ameba chased after him, knwoing that she'd be able to catch him and find out what was his plan.

'Curtis! Stop'

Once they were gone, all eyes and optics were upon Optimus once more.

'Prime...what are we going to do?'

'...We're going to meet Megatron and end this...'

I look back-I see pain

I look ahead-I see dreams

I look back-I see hurt

I look ahead-I see beauty

I look back-I feel helpless

I look ahead-I feel empowered

I look back-I feel loss

I look ahead-I feel hope

I look back-I know no way out

I look ahead-I know my destination

I look back-I have hate

I look ahead-I have love

I look back-I don't knw where I'm going

I look ahead-I know my direction

I look back-I have fear

I look ahead-I have faith

I look back-I lose my innocence

I look ahead-I gain wisdom

I look back-I lose my youth

I look ahead-I gain experience

I look back-I am trapped

I look ahead-I am free

I look back-I hide bruises,by broken spirit

I look ahead-I share my heart, my soul...

The end of Book one: The Guardians...


End file.
